Shadow Play
by AJay131
Summary: Not all men were born equal, that's just how the world works these days... With Heroes and Villains clashing across Tokyo as a desperate struggle emerges, can Mika bring herself to break out of the restraints her past put on her. Or will she snap under the prejudice of her dark Quirk. Follow Mika as she makes her way through U.A, battling explosive idiots and budding friends ships!
1. Chapter 1 - Sunshine

Chapter 1 – Sunshine

Mika had been sat in the empty classroom for about thirty minutes now. It was her first day and she looked like the most eager idiot in the joint. It couldn't be helped, she knew that she would end up being the first one in and the last one out now, but it didn't mean she had to be happy about it. _At least I managed to nab some breakfast, otherwise I would be no good whatsoever._

She had been half excited and half dreading this day for the whole of the summer. She had managed to get into U.A on recommendation and knew that she was going to have to prove herself when she arrived, seen as most of the other students would have fought it out at the entrance exam. Due to a few circumstances she wasn't able to attend, but she had a rather wonderful contact that vouched for her. Plus, she had already been read the blurb that due to her recommendation, if she was to let her performance in classes slip she would be demoted to the support classes, and that was not something that she wanted.

Sighing, she shifted uncomfortably in her uniform. The shirt she didn't mind at all, and she had opted for the short sleeved one, the long sleeve was much to stuffy. It was the necktie she wasn't to chuffed with, it was a indiscreet red with a gold pin in it, the red completely clashing against her emerald eyes. The blazers she knew could be tight and had therefore opted for one size bigger than she really need, which meant it wasn't snug and form fitting. She then had the standard dark green pleated school skirt that sat just above knee with knee length grey socks and chunky doc martins with emerald ribbons instead of laces.

She let her trademark look of utter indifference fall over her face as she sat in the third row from the door, three seats back. Her beaten leather bag sat at her feet as her head rested in her hands, bored half open eyes staring right through the black board up front. _If I end up getting surrounded by complete morons, I will scream._ She ran a hand through her long wild black curls, pushing them over her shoulder where they tumbled haphazardly down to the small of her back. Out of habit, her left hand moved to fiddle with the emerald ribbon tied around her right wrist, she kept it there for when she needed to concentrate. She would pull it from her wrist and tie her hair up with it.

Mika had thought that maybe her new home room teacher would turn up soon to welcome his brand-new class with open arms like most homeroom teachers did, but alas. She was sat on her own right up till the about ten minutes to homeroom.

She was jogged from her staring contest with the blackboard by the door sliding open, emerald eyes languidly flowing to the newcomer.

"Oh, Good Morning" A rather well-spoken tall boy stated, his glasses flashed to her immediately and she couldn't help but suck in a breath. _Well hell, here we go…_

"Mornin" She nodded and was about to resume her staring contest with the black board only to tense when the lad then started walking towards her.

"It's wonderful to meet you, and to think someone was more punctual than me… amazing" He spoke with such umph that it made Mika feel like she was meeting the most intense person in the world, and from who she had to deal with on a daily basis, that was saying something. He came to a stop by her desk and bowed. _Damn, looks like I need to make at least 10% effort._

Mika stood from her chair and slowly bowed back to him.

"My name is Tenya Iida, it's a pleasure to meet you." He smiled.

"Mika Yamada, it's nice to meet you too" She replied politely, still not quite cracking a smile herself.

"How long have you been here, Yamada-san?"

"Uh, I've been here about 20 minutes already… I think" She thought, her half-lidded eyes wandering over to the clock above the black board trying to figure out how long it had been since she was dropped off right outside the door.

"Oh wow, such drive…" He beamed, chopping the air in front of him with one of his hands. Mika watched him with a brow furrowed.

"Yeh… drive" She muttered.

Just then the door slid open and a slow and steady stream of students then started entering the classroom. Iida immediately spun round and began introducing himself to everyone that came in. _Iida-san, you are being far too eager for this time in the morning, relax._ Most of the students that wandered through the door all greeted him with enthusiasm, and as Mika watched she could see the excitement in their eyes as they wandered in and found desks. There were some more obvious quirks that entered which caught her eye, and she couldn't help but stare a little when one really tall guy came striding in, hair grey with a bandana covering the lower half of his face, yet that was not what made him stand out. He had thee arms coming out of each shoulder socket. _Awesome_.

Others looked like her, unassuming when it came to quirks. Those were the types of people that she found the most intriguing, she loved trying to guess and figure out what their quirks were.

 _I wonder If there will be anyone like me in this class, it would be pretty nice to have someone to train with that understood what I'm working with. It had taken a hell of a long time to home in on my quirk due to the lack of information out there about it, and the fact that my parents were never forthcoming._

Mika was pulled from her reverie to find that most of the class had turned up now and were chatting with each other, making introductions and small talk. She merely sighed and sunk a little lower in her seat. She could tell that her bored looking eyes and black curls that had fallen slightly over her face made others feel she was a little too intimidating to approach. That was when the door slid open with a little more force than was necessary, and in strolled a sandy blond-haired lad with a face like thunder. Iida was in there straight away. _Seriously dude, chill out._

"Oh nice to meet you I'm…"

"I don't care" The angry looking guy stated, holding up a hand and passing Iida-san with nothing more than that. A few of the other students all looked to him as he strolled across the room like he owned it and plopped down in the far row, second seat back. He immediately chucked his bag under the table and pulled his feet up onto the desk. _Oh wow, now I would be lying to myself if I was to say you didn't look like the biggest dick around._ Everything about him screamed pride and power, and as much as it was intimidating, it pissed her off.

"Bit rude" She found herself scoffing, bored eyes levelling him with a dirty look. The rest of the students kept quiet.

"What did you just say?" The kid turned to face Mika with fury in his eyes, a vein throbbing on his forehead.

"Oh, bless you, you must be hard of hearing… I said, 'bit rude'" Mika's voice was dripping in sarcasm as she replied slower and louder than before, finally leaning forward onto her desk and flashing him a wicked grin.

"The fuck is your problem, huh?" He growled back to her.

"You, you dipshit" Mika deadpanned, making him gawk at her before growling.

"Oh wow" "How manly" "They are scary" "Who are they?"

The students around them muttered to each other before tentatively stepping away from the all-out glaring competition that had flared up between the bored looking black-haired girl and the furious looking blond-haired boy.

To try and defuse the tension Iida came shuffling over and started to steer the conversation away from Mika. He tried to point out that the git shouldn't have his feet up on the desk. Stating that he needed to uphold the rules and regulations within the classroom to stop such blatant disrespect for the heroes that had sat at those desks before them. It was all a bit too much for Mika, so she turned back towards the front and sunk back into her seat. _Way to make friends, Mika, you just put the rest of your class off you. Well at least I'm not putting everyone off as much as that git._

"Take your feet of off that desk now!" Iida stern words cut across her inner ramblings. Her bored eyes flowed over to where he was stood with his hands on his hips as he looked down at the blonde-haired git.

"Huuuuh?" He sneered back at him, obviously trying to wind Iida up.

"It's the first day and you are already disrespecting this academy by scuffing school property, you cretin" Iida rumbled. Which only made the grin on the blond kids face intensify and look more savage. _Awh man, Tenya-san you don't know when to quit huh?_

"You're kidding me, right?" He scoffed. "Did your middle school put a stick up your ass, or were you born with it?"

"Uhh, ah…" Iida look completely aghast and lost for words. Mika watched with bored eyes as he took a deep breath and held out his hand before him. "Let's start again, I'm Tenya Iida from the Private Somei Academy"

"Somei, huh?" The blond retaliated, instead of reciprocating the greeting. "So you must think you're better than me? I'm going to have fun tearing you a new one!" He smirked evilly as Iida took a step back with a gasp.

"You would threaten me? Your own classmate? Are you sure you're in the right place?" Iida looked horrified at the blond. At the insinuation of the blond not being right for the Hero course, his eyes darkened, and Mika could basically see where his line was drawn, and where Iida's foot now stood. He looked like he was about to bite his head off, when the door slid open again and both the blond and Iida spun round to see who it was.

"It's him!" Iida pointed, with such conviction.

Mika felt her head spinning to see who had entered the classroom and was hit with a wave of something she liked to call, her Achilles heel. For in the doorway stood a boy around her height with the most adorable look of shock on his face. He had mad dark green hair, that sat messily on top of his head, yet in a way that looked natural and cute. He had a bright yellow backpack on and was nervously gripping the straps. On his feet were a pair of bright read worn boots.

Now, even though Mika constantly put off an air of indifference and boredom, she was incredibly receptive to things she found cute, and right in that moment, the new comer blushing to his roots and looking nervous as hell was the cutest thing she had seen in a long while. She felt her cheeks heating up and her eyes widened a little, now sparkling at him. It was something that happened, she never came across anything cute in her childhood till she moved in with her Brother, and now when faced with cute things she just wanted to turn into a magpie and take them home.

"Ohhh Hi" He stuttered. Iida was on him in an instant, striding across the classroom to meet him.

"My name is Tenya Iida from the…"

"Uh Yeah… I know" The newcomer held up his hands and smiled politely to Iida. "I'm Izuku Midoriya, its super nice to meet you"

 _Adorable._

"Midoriya, you realised there was something more to the practical exam, didn't you?" Iida began, sounding incredibly serious. Everyone in the class that had arrived was now watching with rapt attention, not realising that there was something more to what they had been told. Izuku looked momentarily perplexed by the question. Mika could feel the urge to smoother Izuku in a hug building within her. _Ugh, I Just want to hug the cuteness out of him._

"You must be very perceptive, and I completely misjudged you…" Iida started shaking his head and looking down to the ground in complete disgust with himself. _Jeez, did he always take himself so seriously?_ "I admit, as a student you are far superior to me!"

"HEY, I recognise that messed up hair!" Came a girls excited voice from behind Izuku. Both lads turned to look at a girl a little shorted than Izuku, with short auburn hair and bright brown eyes that looked so adorable, Mika couldn't help but cough and put a hand to her mouth. _They are both adorable, I can't even…_

Mika turned away from them all then, not wanting to make a fool of herself. Instead she leaned over and started rummaging through her knackered leather bag and pulled out a pink fluffy tipped pen and a sparkly pink and green notebook.

"Uh, are they yours?" Came a nervous chuckle from the right of her. Her bored eyes slid up to meet red, as the boy next to her looked from her to her stationary.

"Yeh, who's else would they be?"

"Well, you know… they don't really match your… uh" He began to try and basically tell her she didn't suit her stationary, and all the while he was stuttering, she was raising an eyebrow at him.

"He's saying that's far too girly for a moody looking shit like you, curly" Came the blond boys voice from before, cutting across the red-haired ones stammering.

"Oh well, yeah, but I was going to put it better than that!" The red head winced.

"Yeh, that's true… they would suit you better, wouldn't they, sunshine?" Mika snorted, throwing her bored eyes over her shoulder at him, before turning back to the red-haired boy.

"Ha, she has you there… my names Eijiro Kirishima, nice to meet you" He bowed in his seat to her and offered her a spikey toothed smile.

"Mika Yamada, nice to meet you too" She replied, bowing back. All the while the blond kid was fuming and cursing her out behind them. _He is going to get very annoying, very fast if all he does is chew people out all the time. Yet there's also no way I'm going to be able to keep my mouth shut against it. Sigh._

"If you've only come here to make friends, then you might as well pack up and leave now!" Came a stern voice from the doorway. Everyone's heads whipped back around and Izuku and the bubbly girl jumped as a skinny looking man with strained eyes and wiry black hair was laying across the floor zipped up in a yellow sleeping bag. Everyone watched in terrified fascination as he pulled the zip down far enough for him to free an arm and bring a squeezy carton of something to his mouth, as he sucked on it everyone shivered. "Welcome to the U.A Hero Course…"

"It took 8 seconds for you to all shut up, and that's not going to work… time is precious and actual students would understand that." He stated, as he wiggled and then stepped out of his sleeping bag. Revealing a dark outfit and a layered kind of scarf around his neck. _This guy looks far too worn out to be here, but he must be the teacher, that's the only reason I can think of. Poor guy looks like he needs a warm meal, a shower and a long nap._

"Hello, my name is Shoto Aizawa, and I'm your homeroom teacher" He announced. _Nailed it._ " Right, let's get to it… put these on and head outside!"

Everyone looked to each other confused as he started pulling out multiple Uniform gym kits from his sleeping bag before throwing them out to each and everyone. Mika grabbed hers from the air as it sailed towards her and held it up to take a look. _Well at least it isn't too hideous, could be a hell of a lot worse._

BREAK

Once everyone was outside, they all huddled around in a group. Some of them were trying to figure out what was going on, where some others were catching up on learning everyone's names. Mika got cornered by Eijio Kirishima again and he basically did all her talking for her as she just bowed to everyone as he introduced her. _So much easier when someone else does all the talking, I can never engage in small talk, it's completely wasted on me._ Mika stuffed her hands in the training bottoms pockets and slouched a little. She wasn't one of these girls that had a curvy figure yet, and she knew slouching didn't make her look any better but she wasn't trying to impress anyone with her looks, so she just sighed and let Kirishima do all the talking.

"Right, so the system here at U.A is like no other, today I will conduct a test of your quirks" Aizawa Sensei said as he stepped out before them all.

"A test of our quirks?" Midoriya repeated, his eyes going wide a little.

 _Adorable._

"What about the entrance ceremony!... or the guidance sessions?" Ochaco Uraraka, the cute girl stood around with Midoriya piped up, her massive hazel eyes staring intently at Aizawa-sensei.

"No time to waste on that stuff if you want to become heroes. U.A is known for its 'freestyle' educational system, and that applies to us teachers as well" He stated, turning his back on them before glaring over his shoulder.

"Soft ball throwing, the standing long jump, the 50-metre dash, endurance running, grip strength, side to side stepping, upper body strength and seated toe touch… you all would have done these in middle school, Yes?" He asked, his bored eyes sweeping over them all. Mika caught his eyes for a second as two bored eyes glared at each other before he moved on. "Your standard no-quirks-allowed gym tests…"

"Hey, you two related?" Kirishima nudged Mika and pointed between herself and Aizawa-sensei. Mika frowned at him and shrugged her shoulders. _What the hell?_

"No, why would you think that?" She replied, miffed at him. He merely snorted at her and looked back to the front. A few of their classmates behind them chuckling too at the exchange.

"Bakugo, how far could you throw in middle school?" Aizawa-sensei asked.

"Sixty-seven meters." The angry blond answered, looking cocky.

"Great, now try it with your quirk, do whatever you need to. Just don't leave the circle"

"Awesome" Bakugo grinned wolfishly as he caught the ball thrown to him. He proceeded to stretch as he made his way to the circle, and Mika couldn't help but lift her eyes a little to get a good look. She wanted to see what kind of quirk he had, and whether his quirk had anything to do with his awful attitude. _I hope it sucks and he gets a taste of his own medicine._

All of a sudden, there were a few crackles and flashes from the palm of his hands as he took a large step back and then launched himself into a strong pitch. Then just before the ball left his hands, it exploded into what looked like a grenade going off. The ball was sent absolutely hurtling out towards the horizon all to the ever so encouraging scream of…

" **DIE!** " Bakugo cried as he then panted, watching the ball land far far in the distance. Everyone else stood and looked on in awe as a rush of hot air blasted through them all. Mika felt her wild black curls fly out behind her as her wide eyes soaked it all in. _Awh well shit, that was actually really impressive._

"It's important for us to know our limits… that's the first rational step to figuring out what kind of heroes you'll be" Aizawa-sensei explained, holding up his phone to flash them a screen that read. 7-5.2m. There was a pause where everyone was slowly letting their brains keep up with the task ahead of them. It wasn't every day, well at all really, that they were told they were allowed to use their quirks to improve their abilities in sports. Mika thought that it never ever happened like that in middle and first schools. Quirks were something that were regulated to support lessons with teachers, and more often than not they were one on ones and you weren't ever doing anything as exciting as this.

"WOAH" This is awesome!" Kirishima and a few of the others shouted with excitement, fist pumping the air.

"Hey, not too bad, Sunshine" Mika smirked at Bakugo when he strolled back up to join the group of them. He merely growled at her before flipping her his middle finger.

"Fuck off, curly" He bit, but there was a kind of grin to him, as if he was pumped after his throw and her comment couldn't have bought him down. It was a little adorable how pumped he was at his own result, so she let her smirk drop and just stuck her tongue out at him and he just kind of stared at her with a frown at the action. _Ah it's too easy to rile him up._

"Awesome you say… you're hoping to become heroes after these three years, and you think it will all be fun and games?" Aizawa-sensei cut across everyone's chatter with such a gloom that a few of the class shivered. "Right. The one with the lowest score across all eight events will be judged hopeless… and will be expelled"

"WHAT" Every shouted at once.


	2. Chapter 2 - Quirk Test

Chapter 2 - Quirk Tests

"The lowest scorer will be expelled?" A girl with short cool choppy hair and what looked like aux leads coming out of her ears shouted. She looked completely put out.

"It's only the first day! I mean, even if it wasn't… that's totally unfair!" A boy shouted with yellowish hair with a black bolt of lightning flashing through it.

Mika just looked on worriedly. This was exactly what she was expecting though. She knew that there were going to be mad crazy trials ahead, and that she was going to have to prove herself and her power at every opportunity she got. There was no way she was going to allow herself to be expelled. _I have come too far for that, I have worked far too hard to just be expelled… this is my future I need to fight for now._

"Natural disasters, highway pileups, rampaging villains… calamity is always right around the corner. I say, Japan is full of unfair things." Aizawa-sensei stated, with a bored look as he buried his chin further into the strange scarf around his neck. "Heroes are the ones who correct all that unfairness"

"This is mad" Kirishima muttered next to her.

"Hey, we just need to do our best, right?" Mika tried to be friendly, just like her Brother had taught her, but her bored expression and monotone voice only made Kirishima sweat drop and pale even more.

"… U.A will put you through the ringer, that's plus ultra! The demonstration is over, now it's for real!"

Aizawa-sensei took them through an insane number of tasks, and he was taking notes on all the of the results everyone was getting on his phone before him. There were times where he looked impressed, his tired and bloodshot eyes would widen and light up a little when people exceeded his expectations. Yet most of the time he just looked utterly pissed off. _I wonder if he has ever smiled._ Mika thought. _I bet it looks really scary actually._

They had all gone through the basic ones first, like sitting toe touches, which were really only to warm them up. They all sat around in a circle and held until the last person was still going. To which it ended up being Bakugo and another kid that Mika was certain she recognised from somewhere. Then they moved onto the 50-metre dash and Mika could feel the buzz of it all rising up inside her and making her moody aurar shift a little.

"Hey, you look pumped" Kirishima cheered when Mika started to stretch next to him where they were waiting their turn.

"I've got this in the bag…" She stated, bored emerald eyes winking to him.

"Ok, let's have Yamada, Bakugo and Midoriya next" Aizawa-sensei called out as a pretty boy called Yuga Aoyama came sauntering back over after showcasing how his naval laser could propel him through the air. Everyone else had done the dash already and she was itching to get going.

Mika sucked in a deep breath and punched Kirishima lightly on his shoulder as she set off past him to the starting line. She had decided that she liked him, he seemed rather genuine and she could tell by how some of the others were with each other that that was rare. _He's my seat mate too, so I need to get on with him otherwise that will just be awkward._

Once at the start line, she ignored Midoriya and Bakugo as they made their way over. She sucked in another deep breath and cast a quick look around her. It was midday, so the shadows being kicked out around her by everyone, the trees and the school were pretty small. She was going to have to really concentrate. She was mildly aware of Bakugo cursing her to her left as she opened her eyes back up, showing her completely black eyes devoid off the whites and emerald. There were a few gasps from the class as they watched. Yet Mika wasn't done. She concentrated hard and held her hands out beside her as she felt the shadows in the vicinity around her. They were pulsating and flowing. She could sense the darkness of them, feel it in her soul and she willed it to come to her. With that simple thought, she could feel the darkness all rushing towards her and up into her through her hands, the sensation of it was intoxicating and she could feel the dark energy filling her up and soaking into her muscles.

Everyone in the class stood stock still as their shadows leaked out from under them and swirled off towards Mika.

"The fuck?" Bakugo voiced as he watched his own shadow float up and into Mika's hands.

Then as soon as it all began, she let her hands ball into fists and the shadows stopped leaking and rushing towards her. She could feel within her, the pressure bubbling, the energy that she converted from the shadows, the dark energy. Ignoring everyone else she carefully moved herself into position, her right foot forward and body bending down into a more streamlined position, letting the pressure within her pulse through into her legs.

"On your marks… get set… GO"

She launched forwards and at the same time, released the darkness that she had just soaked up in such a way that made it look like she had just taken off like a jet hitting the speed of sound. There was a burst of shadowy smoke kicked off behind her she went. She was off practically flying in one stride towards the finish line. The shadows she had consumed rushed out from under her feet as she raced forwards. She could feel the raw energy of it all escaping her and she concentrated not to let it all out at the same time, for that would send her overshooting and she could do herself a mischief. She was completely tuning everything else out as she crossed the line, and her feet slammed into the ground and she skidded to a halt.

"Mika Yamada, 4 seconds" An electronic voice buzzed from the metre at the finish line. She let a stream of black smoke out her mouth before she stood upright, watching Bakugo fly over the line right behind her, his hands smoking from the use of his explosions, at 4.13 seconds. Midoriya then passed panting over the line at 7.02 seconds. He came to a stop and rested against his knees as he caught his breath. Mika couldn't help but notice his face, for he looked like he was deliberating something, she hadn't seen him use anything like a quirk yet and she was starting to wonder if it was something physically related at all. After a few seconds he stood himself up straight and caught her eye, then broke into a huge grin. G _agh, my heart._

"WOAH, Yamada-san you have an Umbrakinetic quirk?" Midoriya puffed as he rushed over to her. Mika looked at his red face and couldn't help but feel her own blush forming. _Adorable._

"Yeah, I can soak up the shadows around me and transfer it into energy" She explained. Trying to look unaffected, but there was a slight pinkness forming on her cheeks.

"That's so cool" He beamed at her as they made their way back to the rest of the class.

"Yeah that was awesome Yamada-san, you looked so casual" A girl with pink hair and pink skin called Mina clapped her hands and jumped up and down before her. Mika tensed up at all the attention but couldn't deny that she was enjoying it. A few of her new classmates had come over to ask her all sorts of questions, and she answered them one at a time with a look of complete confusion and shock written across her face. Kirishima kept saying how manly she was, and she supposed by the way that he was saying it, that it was supposed to be a compliment, and then Midoriya was just beaming at her, with his sincere eyes that sparkled. Something turned over in her chest at the kind words being poured her way. _What is this?_

' _No one is ever going to understand you… not like me, you're mine'_

All her life, ever since she had shown the first few signs of her quirk, she had been kept quiet. Her Father had a quirk where he could pass through shadows, and that was primarily where she had inherited hers from. For instance, he could cross a room by stepping through into his shadow and appearing out of a shadow the other side of the room. She hated thinking about that man, and it was good riddance that she would never ever see him for as long as she lived, she hoped. So to have so many fresh happy faces looking to her and paying attention to her in a good light made her almost need to stand back and just soak it all in. She could feel the tightness in her chest lessen, and she felt the urge to smile at them almost take over.

' _You're mine'_

Her happiness faltered once more. A vision of her Father and his associate flashed through her mind, then the eyes were there, watching her. He had taken her and tried to change her; he had tried to break her all for the quirk within her. She could feel the pit in her chest opening up as dark thoughts at to the reasons why her new classmates were interested in her started to simmer in her consciousness. Did they understand, did they want to use her too? _I can't have anybody use me like that ever again, I couldn't take it._

"Ne, Yamada-san?" Midoriya pulled her out of her reverie. Everyone else had moved on to the next task after she had zoned out, but he was hovering before her with his once beaming eyes now worried, making her chest tighten in embarrassment.

"Sorry, what was your question?" She shook her head, and let her eyes fall back into their usual half lidded bored look. Izuku had been so excited to learn that Yamada-san had an umbrakinetic quirk, he had read about them but had never ever seen anyone with one before and he had so many questions. As did the whole class and he couldn't help but smile when Yamada-san had opened up a little and answered everyone's questions. After meeting her earlier in the day and from watching her interactions with everyone, especially Kacchan, he had come to a rather premature impression that she was a cold and uninviting person, especially with how her eyes seemed to look through everyone as if she didn't care. Yet with those few seconds with everyone paying her attention and being interested in her quirk he had gotten a flash of something more, maybe. Shock at being praised and a slight happiness at the shock.

"No, uh… nothing" He quickly covered, and scratched the back of his head. "Shall we go and stand with the others?"

"Ok." With that, she followed him over and stood beside him as they watched everyone going about the long jump, Uraraka spotted them joining them and smiled to them before turning back to watch. As everyone was chatting away to each other, she couldn't help but feel bad for putting up her cold shoulder to Midoriya, he was only trying to help and if she was going to keep her promise to her Oniichan, then she needed to open up a little.

BREAK

It didn't take long for the last test to come around, and after everyone had been up and thrown the ball as far as they could whilst staying within the circle. It was soon Midoriya's turn. Mika had been up before him after Uraraka had received an 'infinity' mark for making her ball weightless, the whole class basically waving goodbye to it as it floated off up and away from the earth. Mika was so thoroughly impressed, Uraraka's zero gravity quirk was so cool. She herself had managed to smash almost everyone's records, and came in just two meters behind Bakugo, to which he was very smug about.

"Not so clever now, ey curly" He smirked at her, his crimson eyes flashing at her.

"Shut your trap, sunshine" She bit as she strolled past him to stand back next to Midoriya. She turned to Izuku as Bakugo spouted off curse after curse to her and tuned him out. Midoriya was looking like he was about to be sick, with beads of sweat appearing on his forehead. Mika could tell that he was nervous, the threat of being at the bottom and getting expelled obviously weighing heavily on his mind, and in that instant, she wanted to try and see if she could make him feel better. She didn't like this look on his face, she wanted to see his smile again. _Come on Mika, you can do this._

"You are the last person to go, huh?" She started slowly.

"Oh, uh… yeah, I guess I am" He muttered, eyes flicking from her back to the circle where he would have to step into soon.

"I believe in you, do your best, ok?" She tried, her bored eyes warming up a little as she flashed him the quickest smile ever, catching him off guard a little.

"Midoriya, you're up" Aizawa-sensei called out then.

His wide eyes moved from her and then to the circle and he nodded his head. Everyone watched as he strolled into the circle and picked up the ball that was waiting for him. He looked so intense. Mika took this chance to move back to stand next to Kirishima, who nudged her and smiled.

"Reckon he can get a good mark, he needs it" He deduced at her.

"I hope so" She nodded; her eyes trained on Midoriya.

"He isn't doing very well is he?" Tenya sighed from in front of her.

"Well duh, he's a quirkless runt!" Bakugo scoffed, looking at Tenya like he was an absolute idiot. Mika felt her brows shoot up. _Quirkless? No that can't be it, how else would be get into the Hero Course?_

"Quirkless? So you haven't heard about his feats during the entrance exam?" Tenya replied in shock, waving his hands about.

"Huh?" Bakugo looked completely confused.

"You think he is quirkless?" Mika asked, from behind them. Bakugo turned to frown at her.

"Well yeah…" He huffed. "I've known him my whole life, I'd know if he had a quirk or not"

Everyone looked back to Midoriya then, as he was starting to move. Mika and the rest of the class were watching so intently. Tenya and Uraraka knew that what Midoriya had done in the entrance exam was amazing, a pure feat that no one but a hero could do. But no one else had seen this, and after watching him come last in almost every test they had done so far, they were seriously considering also that he was quirkless.

Everyone waited with bated breath as he started to lean back to get ready for his throw, his face coming over extremely intense. Then Mika spotted it, his arm began to almost change before them, reddish pink lines spreading along it. Then he threw the ball.

"46 Meters" Came the robotic voice.

"Well shit" Mika breathed, and she watched as Bakugo's shoulders slumped back down before her. The whole class looked from Midoriya to Aizawa-sensei with confusion written on their faces. Some at as to how someone as weak as him could get into the Hero course, and others as to why he hadn't used his quirk yet.

"Huh!" Midoriya gasped, looking at his hands with a gobsmacked look about him. "But I was trying to use it"

"I 'erased' your quirk" Aizawa-Sensei stated, and the class looked back to him, realising that his hair was now pushed out from his face, and his eyes were glowing red as he scowled at Midoriya. "That ridiculous entrance exam… completely irrational when you consider someone like you got in"

 _Ouch, there's no need to be so rude._ Mika thought as the class waited with bated breath once more as to what would happen next.

"Erased?... Those googles, of course!" Midoriya gasped. "He's the erasure Hero, Eraser Head!"

"Oh, that makes sense" Mika nodded, looking to Kirishima who looked thoroughly confused. Her Brother had told her all about Eraser Head, like he was one of the Heroes biggest fans.

"Eraser? I've never heard of him?" He puffed.

"I think I've heard his name before, he's an angler-type hero" A small purple headed boy said, Mika recalled him being called Mineta.

"I saw it… how you can't control your quirk, you'd just be incapacitated again… were you hoping someone would step in to help afterwards?" Aizawa-Sensei carried on, tuning out the rest of the class.

"N-no, it's not like that!" Midoriya protested. Aizawa-Sensei let his scowl deepened as he threw part of his scarf out around Midoriya and pulled him closer. Everyone was watching with wide eyes.

"Whatever you were planning… it would have inconvenienced those around you… Way back when a certain hot-blooded hero saved over a thousand people during a disaster he made himself a legend, you've got the same reckless streak, but… you're totally useless after saving just a single person" He explained with slight malice in his voice. Mika saw Uraraka wince out of the corner of her eye.

"Izuku Midoriya. You cannot become a hero with that power of yours"

"That's so unfair... taking away his quirk and then having a go about it to him like that… what the fuck?" Mika seethed. She could see the points that Aizawa-Sensei had made but calling him out like that in front of a class was just mean, and she hated it when people were cruel like that.

"Shut up, curly" Bakugo said calmly before her, and at the change from his usual barking voice she did shut up. Aizawa-sensei sighed and then he closed his eyes, his hair falling back over his face.

"You have your quirk back, let's get this over with" He muttered.

"Are you worried about him?" Aoyama asked Uraraka, placing a hand on her shoulder, and she nodded, then turned to him with a look as if she didn't know him, but he carried on. "I'm not worried at all."

"Seems like he received some special instruction" Tenya puzzled, with his hand coming up to his chin.

"Yeah, the instruction to leave this school" Bakugo scoffed.

"Why don't you all shut up and let him concentrate" Mika deadpanned, flashing them her jaded eyes. They quickly turned back and watched as Midoriya went through the motions once more, and then just as he was about to throw, there was a slight change in the air around them.

Midoriya swung his arm round, ready for the throw, yet at the last second his arm changed again, the red marks appearing, as he shouted out.

"NOW!"

The ball took off from his hand at such a rate that, much like Bakugo's explosions did, sent a wave of air rushing past them all. Mika could feel the energy in the air as it rushed through the shadows. It was immense. This was obviously what Tenya and Uraraka had witnessed within their entrance exam, and it really was very impressive. Bakugo on the other hand, had his jaw touching the floor as he watched with wide eyes. _He didn't know, he had known Midoriya all this time and didn't know?_ Mika looked to Midoriya and noticed him cradling his hand, one of his fingers broken and bruising up already.

"Sensei… I… can still move!" Midoriya called out, clenching his hand. His face looked so strong and it was plain to see that he had such a drive to be here that he was willing to do anything. Mika was speechless. _Adorable._

It turned out that the whole expulsion threat if you were at the bottom of the class at the end of the test was just a ruse, and everyone had breathed out such a breath of relief to find out that Midoriya wasn't going home. Everyone had been thoroughly impressed with his show of power, and therefore had worried over his finger. He had been sent off after Bakugo tried to make him explode.

"Did you really not know?" Mika asked as she caught up to the hot head in the hallway back up to their classroom.

"I don't know what's going on, but if he's been hiding it from me all this time…" He seethed.

"I'm sure he had a good reason, maybe it's because it breaks his bones?" She rolled her eyes and shrugged her shoulders at him.

"Stupid Deku" He growled.

"What's with all this hate towards Midoriya anyway?" Kirishima asked from the other side of Bakugo as he too caught up.

"What does it matter" He huffed, shoving away from them and walking on ahead.

Mika let her bored eyes follow his back as it stalked off up the hallway away from her. There must be some real bad blood between them if he acted like this. Plus it was a little mind boggling to her as to why Bakugo had known Midoriya since they were small but had never ever seen him use his quirk, and had even thought he was quirkless. She knew there was a story somewhere there, and the part of her that was telling her it wasn't her business was now being drowned out by the part of her that wanted to get to the bottom of it.


	3. Chapter 3 - Oniichan

Chapter 3 – Oniichan

"Hey Yamada-san, would you like to join us at lunch?" Kirishima asked, pointing to Kaminari and Bakugo.

All three of them were stood around her desk as she packed away her sparkly stationary into her worn out leather bag. After the Quirk tests, to which she came 4th just behind Bakugo, they had been ushered straight into a mathematics class. It was a little bit of a shock to the system after being able use their quirks all morning. Everyone had got about halfway through the lesson before they started slumping in their chairs and getting distracted. Mika knew that being in the Hero Course would mean dealing with weird and wonderful things, her Oniichan had told her as much to get her prepared, but he had also told her that the normal lessons were made to feel even more boring due to how exciting the rest of the course was. He told her that was why she had to work extra hard, because failing the normal classes, no matter how powerful or talented you were, meant that you could lose your place. _There was no way in hell that I'm going to fail any of it._

She looked up to Kirishima, and then raised a brow at where Bakugo was scowling at her over his shoulder.

"Sure, this isn't a trick to get me alone so sunshine can kill me?" She asked, voice monotonous.

"Nah, we won't let him" Kaminari winked to her, running a hand through his golden yellow hair.

"Tch" was Bakugo's only response.

"Ok then" She breathed. Standing up from her desk and following them out the classroom and down the hall. Her heart was beating a little fast at the fact that they had thought about asking her to join them for lunch. She had wondered if she would be eating alone, for she hadn't really made any effort to talk to any of the girls yet. Mainly due to the fact that now they were in normal lessons, she was actually seated in the middle of a bunch of the lads, whereas some of the other girls were swapping notes and chatting whilst they worked. Although she was seated to the right of Midoriya and that was comforting, because he seemed to be a real genuine guy. She had never been invited to lunch before though, even in her last school, she had been in such a bad place when she started that she had missed making friends and became the weird loner of the year.

She ran a hand through her long wild black curls and started fiddling with the emerald ribbon on her wrist as she strolled along with the three lads.

"I'm Denki Kaminari by the way, I know we haven't properly introduced ourselves." The yellow haired lad smiled, falling back to walk next to her as Kirishima and Bakugo wandered along in front of them. He had kind eyes and a big grin that made her feel the need to smile back to him, which she of course did not.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Mika Yamada" She replied, giving him a polite nod of her head.

"Nice, can I call you Mika-chan?" He asked rather forwardly, she couldn't help but falter in her step a little, Kaminari caught himself too and blushed a little as he held up his hands. "ohh, I don't have to… sorry"

"No, its fine, you can call me Mika-chan" She nodded a little. No one other than her Brother had ever offered to call her that, she was completely dumbfounded. _What's with all these people in my class trying to me smile so much. It's making my face hurt trying to hold it in… but, what does he want?_

"So you were pretty impressive out there this morning, you been training for long?" He asked, placing his hands behind his head as he walked.

"Oh, I suppose so… my Oniichan is a good mentor" She explained, before looking quizzically to him. "How about you… uh, Denki-kun?" He beamed at this and nodded his head. The informal manner of referring to him made her wince, but the smile on his face made it worth it. _Adorable._

"Yeah, mum and dad got me a tutor when I started middle school, but there's only so much they can teach you right? This is where we will become proper heroes", He fist pumped the sky, making Mika roll her eyes. They chatted idly then as they followed Kirishima and Bakugo into the cafeteria. Upon entering all four of them paused in the entry way, taking it all in.

"Oh man" Kirishima buzzed.

Before them was a massive room with walls of windows running down either side that looked out into the U.A grounds. Inside there were rows and rows of large lunch tables that were each separated by partitions with flowers potted in them, that meant that even though everyone was eating in the same room, there was still a little privacy for those sat at their tables. At the far end was a counter that all the students were queueing up at with a massive menu board plastered behind it. The smell however was what caught everyone as they went in. It was amazing. _Oh man, I didn't realise how starving I was till I smelt that food. Hold my feet, I'm diving in._

"Let's go, come on!" She grabbed Kirishima and Kaminari by the sleeves of their blazers and moodily started dragging them to the end of the queue, throwing Bakugo a look that promised death if he didn't hurry and follow them, he merely screwed his face up and followed behind.

"You hungry?" Denki laughed.

"Starving" Mika bluntly replied as they reached the end of the queue and she began trying to go up on her tip toes to see the menu.

"Mika-chan, what's your favourite dish?" Denki asked, for he was taller and could see the menu between everyone in front of them.

"Yakisoba, can you see it on the menu?" She asked back.

"Mika-chan?" Bakugo choked a little. "The hell dude?"

"She said I could" Denki winked back at Bakugo.

"Why, you jealous?" Mika turned back to Bakugo with a scary smirk on her face which made Kirishima and Kaminari pale a little.

"Fuck no, curly"

"Uhm, there is Yakisoba Mika-chan" Kirishima nudged her, also using the familiar for her name seeing as Kaminari had. He also snaked an arm around her shoulders, turning her back from the fuming blond. Bakugo looked at the three of them stood before him, with the slightly shorter Mika in the middle of the two lads and his brow furrowed. The curly black-haired girl was an absolute nightmare, and it pissed him off. It was something about how she looked at him, at everyone, like she was totally bored of them already. He didn't have time for fake people and although she wasn't pretending to be interested in him, it still pissed him off to see that look on her face. Not to mention she had already poked her nose into his business to insult him.

"Oh thanks, Eijiro-kun" She smiled quickly, Bakugo watched the gesture not quite reach her eyes and was there and gone in a flash.

Before long they had all made it to the front and had made their orders and picked up their tickets. Mika knew that if Yakisoba was on the menu, then she was going to be eating that every single day. Yakisoba had been the first meal Hizashi had taken her out for when he took her in, and ever since it's just reminded her of that day. As she waited in line, she could hear the buzz of all the new students all around her, mixed in with the chatter of all the second and third years. She took a breath and counted her lucky stars.

They grabbed their meals and started heading towards the seats. Mika tried to spot the rest of their class, but they had seemed to split up a little, so she left it up to the lads as to where they were sitting.

"Hey, how about over here?" Eijiro ushered them over to a table at the edge by the windows that a few older students were just vacating.

They all crowded round and in the end, Mika was sat next to Denki with Eijiro and Bakugo sat opposite them.

"Man, this is awesome" Denki sighed, looking all around them, his gaze full of excitement. "I was so glad when I received that hologram!"

"Yeah, dude… I was paranoid that I wasn't going to get in" Eijiro sighed, before sticking his chopsticks into the curry before him.

"Nah, there was no way you weren't getting in" Denki laughed.

"You too dude" Eijiro joined in, both of them laughing with each other.

"What bout you curly?" Bakugo asked, eyeing her with a stern look. She finished chewing her mouthful before setting her chopsticks down. _This is going to go down well._

"I didn't take the entrance exam, I was recommended" She stated. Denki and Eijiro letting their mouths drop at the revelation. Bakugo let a sinister smirk fall over his features, he had just found the next person to pound into the dirt. Now he knew why he didn't like her; it was because she was bored thinking she was better than him because she was recommended.

"Recommended, huh?"

"Yup"

"By who?"

"My Oniichan" Mika added, almost childishly.

"He some kind of big shot?" Bakugo pushed, feeling his irritation rise.

"I think so, he's amazing" She couldn't help but smile genuinely, her brother meant so much to her. He was not only amazing for being a good and caring brother who saved her at a time where she didn't think she could get much lower. He was also brave and always always saw the opportunities to make light of situations to cheer people up, even after everything he had been through. She was thinking so hard about how much her Brother meant to her that she didn't notice all three lads looking at her as if she had sprouted horns. They had only seen her flash a quick uncomfortable grin every now and again, but now that she had mentioned her brother, she had a warm smile and bright pink cheeks. _BROTHER COMPLEX?_ They all shouted in their heads.

"Mika-chan, you look so cute when you smile!" Denki all but collapsed, him pointing it out to her made it slip from her face, a dark like mist pretty much clouded over them all, and they swallowed nervously. _Did he just call me cute?_

"Take that back" She sneered, baring her teeth a little, making Bakugo snort.

"Sorry, Mika-chan" Denki shivered.

BREAK

Once everyone had finished scarfing down their lunch, they all headed up in dribs and drabs to their class so that they could get stuck into their English lesson. After a lunch where Mika was slowly warming up to Denki and Eijiro she was walking a little on cloud nine, not that anyone would have noticed from the resting bitch face she had going on. She had never had friends when she was in Middle school and that was mainly due to the situation that she was in for part of it that reflected constantly in her mood. Her Brother had told her that there was no need to be like that anymore, that she had no need to dread waking up anymore, and that making friends was a possibility. So, she had promised herself not to turn her back on her classmates, even if that was what she was more comfortable with. In the end, she knew she wanted to be the type of person that could smile and laugh and join in with friends. She just needed time, but for a first day she felt like she was doing very well. Denki and Eijiro were really nice guys that were a lot of fun to be around. Bakugo on the other hand felt like he needed a lot of work.

"Hey, I wonder who the English teacher will be?" Eijiro pondered out loud as they were approaching the classroom door. They had no idea that behind them Mika was buzzing with excitement for she knew exactly who the English teacher was.

She gently shoved through them and slid the classroom door open. Most of the class were already seated waiting for them to turn up, but her eyes drifted lazily from them to the teacher with his legs resting up on the desk. At their entrance, he jumped up and a loud booming voice hit them all, making their hair blow back.

"AH, THAT'S A FULL HOUSE!" Present Mic's quirk made everyone apart from Mika wince. She smiled so brightly at him she felt like her face was going to break. Present Mic ushered them to come in and take their seats, yet it was when he skipped over to Mika and held out his fist for a fist bump did a cloud of confusion fall over them. Midoriya was even muttering in his seat in confusion.

"How's your day going, my favourite listener?" Present Mic asked Mika, making the class look from him to their classmate as she fist bumped him back and flashed him a beaming smile, it was so bright and so genuine that no one knew what to say.

"Not too bad Oniichan" She chuckled, the light and bubbly noise making Mineta fall from his chair.

"ONIICHAN?" The class gasped. Mika realised she was beaming like an idiot and let it slip from her face.

"That's right my avid listeners, yeahhhhhhhh!" Present Mic cheered, his voice booming around the room. "But that doesn't mean she'll be getting any slack from her Oniichan!"

Practically the whole classes mouths fell open as they looked from Mika, with her black curly hair and bored looking eyes and the almost perpetual look of disinterest on her face, to the blonde with straight hair, bright and excitable eyes and the everlasting hyper air about him. They were literally the complete opposites from each other, the only matching feature being their green eyes, but due to how Mika's always looked so bored and Present Mic's were wide and excited, even that was a stretch.

"No way!" Denki shouted out. "You are complete opposites!"

"Opposites?" Mika asked, tilting her head to the side, before looking up at her brother. She was completely unaware of how different they were. When Mika was happy, really happy, the smile on her face and in her eyes made her look just like him and she just didn't realise that when she wore her indifferent face that people really struggled to see the similarities. "Are we?"

Everyone facepalmed.

Mika moved to her seat then and once she had plopped herself down and grabbed out her sparkly stationary, she flashed her eyes over to Midoriya who was furiously scribbling down into a filthy looking notebook. She tried to tune into her brother class, but her eyes kept moving over to Midoriya. He was so enamoured with what he was doing. Mika knew he wasn't making notes on the class because there was nothing really that her Oniichan had covered that he needed to write down yet. Then the more she looked the more she could see something like a sketch and arrows with notes. _What in the world is all that, Midoriya?_ In the end she got fed up and poked him on the shoulder and pointed to the book with a questioning look.

"What's that?" She whispered, careful not to distract anyone else.

"Oh, uh…" He moved his arm just enough for her to be able to see a crude sketch of what looked like her brother, with annotations dotted around it. She couldn't help but feel curious so she reached over and pulled it over to her desk so she could get a better look. Midoriya was practically squirming in his seat as he desperately tried to keep one eye on Present Mic so he wouldn't get told off, and the other on Mika as she got out her own glittery pencil and started filling in more bits of information for him.

When she handed it back to him, he stared in awe at the annotations that she had added that meant that it now had all he needed to know. He looked back to her with the biggest grin she had ever seen, and he just exuded 'thanks' from every pore.

"Thanks Yamada-san!" He breathed, quietly.

"You're welcome" She nodded with a friendly wink.

Their class went pretty slowly after that. The whole class, once they had gotten over the shock of finding out the moody and dark looking Mika was related to the very hyper and bright Present Mic, they got very bored and their brains all slowly started to shut down. Mika was concentrating very hard, taking as many notes as she could because she wanted nothing more than to do her best and make her Brother proud. English, she had always been pretty good at, her brother had started speaking to her in English when she had moved in with him. Mainly for him to practice because he was going to start doing a radio show once a week for an American station, therefore he needed to brush up on his English, and she was always more than happy to help.

As the end of the class came about, she couldn't help but feel like her first day of the Hero Course at U.A had gone really well. She had worked her arse off to get here and she was over the moon that she was able to attend. Not only had she made it through her first day without getting too nervous and worked up, she was well on her way to making friends and she knew that would make her Brother happy when they sat down for dinner later on to talk through it all. _If every day is like today, I could see myself getting used to it._

 _Something else to help make waking up alive and breathing easier every day._


	4. Chapter 4 - Costumes

Chapter 4 – Costumes

"MIKA-CHAN!"

Mika awoke on the fourth day into the week, to the whole flat rattling at the sound of her Brothers booming voice. She sighed and let her eyes stare up at the ceiling as she went through her morning mantra, one that her Brother had spoken to her every morning for the first few weeks when she first moved in with him.

 _Open your eyes, take three deep breaths, and thank the stars you made it one more day._

She pushed the covers from her, the fresh air pouring in from her open window bit at her skin as she wiped at her eyes, desperately trying to wake herself up. There was a knock at her door, and then her brothers head peered round it, his hair tied up in a loose bun, a toothbrush hanging out his mouth.

"Morning Oniichan!" She yawned.

"Morning Mika-chan, did you sleep well?" He asked, his voice softer now, not his usual excitable boom.

"Not too badly" She huffed as she sat up and ran a hand through her wild black curls, a shadow hung over her mind as she tried to remind herself how great her first few days at U.A had been. She had slept as well as she usually did. Not great. "How about you? When did you get home from the Radio Station?"

"Good thanks, oh around 3am I think… I just came to see if you've taken your breathes?" His eyes were wary as he watched his little sister, looking out for every move she made and every expression that filtered across her tired face. Mika was used to this routine now. He always checked on her in the morning. He used to check on her throughout the night too when she first moved in, but he had stopped that now. She nodded and threw a weak smile his way as she thrust her arms up to the ceiling to stretch her arms out.

"Shall I meet you for breakfast once you're ready?" He asked gently.

"Yeah I shouldn't be too long" She reassured as she stood and made her way over to her wardrobe where she had hung up her school uniform neatly the evening before once she had gotten home. Her Brother shuffled off and left her to it as she checked it all over and made sure it was ready to go before she grabbed up her shower bag and headed off out her room and across the hall to the bathroom. Hizashi was just strolling out after finishing brushing his teeth and he scuffed her hair as they passed.

She took a quick shower, making sure not to get her hair wet for it took far too long to dry and she had done it the night before anyway. She got out and caught her reflection in the mirror, pausing to eye her reflection as she pushed her hair around and poked at her cheeks, noting how she still hadn't lost her freckles from her early childhood. _I still look like I'm ten, what the hell?_

Once she was back in her room, she threw her uniform on and sat down at her mirror, pulling out a small bag of makeup. She had the real basics, concealer for the bags under eyes. She had powder to cover up a few of the blemishes she got on her forehead, then mascara to make it look like she was actually awake. The rest of the bag consisted of makeup wipes and skin care that she more often than not completely forgot to use at the end of the day. She never ever felt the need to make herself look beautiful like some of the other girls did, with lip-glosses and eye shadows, although she always admired it when girls did their make up well or used bright colours, it just wasn't for her.

Standing back up she checked out her appearance. Her hair was ricocheting down to the small of her back in midnight black curls, and before she forgot she grabbed her emerald ribbon from the nightstand and tied it around her wrist just in case she needed it later. Her uniform was looking decent and so with a final nod, she set off out her room grabbing her battered leather bag along the way. She reached the kitchen and slumped herself down in one of the chairs at their tiny table.

"What do you fancy?" Hizashi asked, his hair still not done. Mika looked to her watch then back to his hair and raised her brows, watching as he frowned and then reached up to his head. She sighed when she watched realisation dawn over his features. "OH MIKA-CHAN I HAVENT DONE MY HAIR"

"Here I'll help" She chuckled at him as she dashed off down to his room to grab his hair products and comb.

She spent the next ten minutes making her brothers signature hairstyle work and once it was all practically standing up on end, she smothered it in hairspray and then they were ready. They dashed out and launched themselves into the taxi that Hizashi had quickly called when he had realised what the time was. Mika was yet to get used to travelling into school with her big Brother. It was nice for them to be able to do this together now, they had spent so much of their lives separated by circumstances that it was so refreshing, and Mika was really quite enjoying it. She remembered when she was little, the only light in her life was when Hizashi came to visit her. He would create a haven in the middle of the darkness she lived in and for that she would be forever grateful, for without him she wouldn't be here right now.

Once they arrived at school, they wandered through most of the hallways together before they split up with a fist bump and she then headed up the last flight of stairs and along to her class, 1-A. She dug around in her bag for her phone and earphones, expecting to be sat alone waiting for everyone again for at least 20 minutes. Yet when she slid the door open, she was greeted by the extremely polite yet intense face of Tenya Iida.

"Oh, good morning Tenya-san" She bowed a little and came to stand by his desk.

"Good morning, Yamada-san!" He smiled. "You have inspired me so much with your punctuality that I decided to come in a little earlier"

"Really?" She huffed in surprise.

"Of course, it does well to be on time"

"Well yeah, but… I'm only here early because I come in with Oniichan, and he comes in early to annoy the other teachers in the lounge" She reasoned, scratching her head.

"Oh, I see" He slammed his head to the table.

"But being punctual is super important…" Mika tried; she didn't want him braining himself on the table. _Why is he so intense?_ "… if it were a competition you would get, like… 11 out of 10!"

"Of course, I shouldn't be so silly… thank you Yamada-san" He smiled up to her through a wince.

"You know, Denki and Eijiro call me Mika-chan… you can too If you'd like?" She offered, feeling brave. _Nice one Mika, making friends isn't that bad see?_

"Only if you call me Iida?" He smiled back to her, his glasses flashing slightly.

 _Thank the stars that you made it one more day._

They chatted idly away about their expectations of the hero course and she even managed to get him to laugh at one point which made her blush at herself for managing it. Iida wasn't so bad once you got to know him, at first, she thought that he was stuck up and after how he had gone on at Bakugou on the first day she was a little wary of him. Now however, she understood that he was just incredibly driven and just wanted to do well, he didn't mean anything maliciously. He even told her about his family and about how he wanted to be just like his Brother and when he mentioned that she instantly understood him completely. He wanted the same thing she did, they both wanted to make their older brothers proud.

The rest of the class started filing in about twenty minutes later and she was soon pulled away from Iida and drawn into a conversation with Denki and Eijiro, of which just happened to be had over Bakugou's desk and he didn't shoo them off once he had arrived and sat down.

BREAK

"I HAVE… COME THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE NORMAL!" Came the booming voice that everyone had been waiting for.

Mika couldn't help but perk up and look a little livelier than usual, for swinging into the room in a rather heroic pose was none other than All Might himself. The world's best and most powerful superhero. He had the record on lives saved and villains taken down and he was just all round the most amazing hero ever. It was beyond remarkable that he was teaching, and she couldn't even believe that he would be teaching her. The whole class was obviously in the same mind frame as they all cheered at his entrance.

"It's All Might!" Denki gushed, his smile so wide Mika thought it would split his face in half.

"Incredible, he's really going to teach us!"

"That's his silver age costume"

"He's so different from the rest of us, it gives me goose bumps!"

"HERO BASIC TRAINING" All Might announced and the whole class fell deathly silent to listen to everything he had to say. "The class that'll put you through all sorts of special training to mould you into heroes!" He stated whilst posing and showing off his muscles at the front of the class, his cape billowing out behind him elegantly. Mika was absolutely star struck. _This man is a god, I'm deceased._

"This is going to be so awesome" She heard Midoriya whisper to himself next to her, she turned to him and they met eyes. She tried easing out of her resting bitch face and winked to him and held a thumbs up to which he grinned right back to her.

"No time to dally, today's activity is this!" His voice boomed over the class as he whipped a card out from somewhere in his suit. On it, it read…

"Battle Training!"

The whole class erupted into cheers and Mika couldn't help the grin that spread over her face. _Finally, a real chance to test out all the training that Hizashi had been putting me through, bring it the hell on._ Mika felt the excitement build within her.

"Battle training" Bakugou repeated just in front and to the left of her desk. She could practically feel the murderous intent flowing from him and in that instant, she prayed that she would get to go against him. She wanted nothing more than to be able to wipe that smug look from his face.

"And for that… you need these!" There was a click and then special cabinets holding numbered cases slid out from the wall to their left at the front. "In accordance with the Quirk registry and the special request forms you filled out before being admitted…"

Before he even got a chance to finish his sentence the whole class had practically leapt out of their seat and were bouncing with anticipation.

"COSTUMES!" they all cheered. "YEAHHHH"

"After you change, come out in ranking order to ground beta!" All Might finished and with that he all but flew out the door.

"Holy shit!" Mika enthused, her bored and indifferent persona slipping completely as she found herself jumping out of her seat and rushing over to the number 5 case.

"This is going to be awesome!" Eijiro fist pumped the air beside her as he waited for her to grab her case. She then all but ran down the hall with him, Denki and Bakugou towards the changing rooms. Then once there she split off and made her way into the girls changing room. All the girls were rushing around admiring each other's costumes. Mika faltered a little and hovered in the doorway casting her eyes around her and feeling a heavy lump forming in her throat. She couldn't help but feel like all the girls had clicked already and somehow, she had missed out and it had left her with not knowing where to set up. They all looked like they were all grouped together, and she didn't want to just push in.

"Hey Mika-chan, come and change with me!" Kyoka Jiro called out to her and she smiled thankfully and hurried over.

"Thanks" Mika offered when she set her case down and started opening it.

"No worries… are you super excited? this is going to be awesome." She gushed as she pulled out an edgy leather jacket from her case.

"I've been ready for battle training for months, I'm so ready for this" Mika nodded.

"Oh really?"

"Oniichan has been giving me training sessions before we started here…" She mentioned, not feeling like sharing the whole truth at this point in time.

"You're so lucky, I wish I could have a proper pro trainer" Jiro sighed.

"Don't need to now though?" Mika shrugged. "That's why we're all on this course, right?"

"I suppose… uhh, I didn't put much effort into my costume, not like the others, but I'm still pumped to get it on!" Jiro admitted, as she started pulling out black leggings and a fashionably ripped red t-shirt.

"I'm sure you will kick ass in whatever it is you have designed!" Mika smirked to her and they both chuckled.

Mika set to getting changed then, she had worked on her outfit with her brother and was inspired by his outfit. First, she pulled out a chucky pair of black boots with green laces and thick tread to give her a bit of extra height. She set them down on the floor then and reached back into the case pulling out black skin-tight high waisted leggings, that had a thin emerald detail down the sides. She quickly pulled her skirt and knee length sock off and pulled them on, liking how they fit her figure nicely and were still super easy to move around in. Next, she yanked off her school blazer and shirt, replacing it with a cropped emerald vest top. She hadn't realised when she had made her plan, but there was a lot more of her midriff on show than she had originally hoped for, but she pulled out the black trench coat out the case and threw that on. Mika loved it all. She felt like she was ready to battle a thousand villains and come out on top. She nodded to Jiro as they moved to stand before a large mirror, both of the girls complimenting each other as they made sure everything was how they wanted it.

Once everyone was done, all the girls strode back out in the hallway where the lads were gathering and getting pumped over their costumes together. Mika was amazed at all the different types of outfits people had chosen. There were a few that had opted for practical ones that looked super easy to move around in, and then there were others that looked mad. Mineta, who looked as though he had some kind of nappy on, even had a cape.

They all started striding off down the hallway and out into the main training area that All Might had asked them to meet him at. Mika had to admit, walking with everyone out into the training ground with their costumes on and their confidence sky high, it felt really good. She couldn't remember the last time she had felt so confident, it was amazing how much a really good outfit made a difference to how you felt, and it was then that she understood why her Oniichan had made such a massive big deal when they were designing it together.

Once out they all congregated around where All Might was stood with his legs wide and his hands on his hips, cape fluttering out behind him, classic smile plastered over his face.

"Looking good is very important Ladies and Gentlemen!" All Might began once he was sure that everyone was there, Midoriya being the last to join them as he had just run out, his outfit looking just as awesome as everyone else's, although his head piece was a lot similar to All Might's hair. _Maybe a sneaky nod to his favourite hero? I like the mouth guard though, that's super cool!_

"Look alive now! Because from today on… you're all heroes!" He beamed and everyone cheered once again. "Shall we begin my wards, let's get stuck into Battle Training!"


	5. Chapter 5 - Fist Fight

Chapter 5 – Fist Fight

"I like your outfit, Denki-kun!" Mika offered as she wandered to stand with him, Eijiro and Bakugo. He had a similar outfit to hers in a sense that he was wearing black trousers with a white lightning bolt detail down the front of each leg. He had one a plain white t-shirt and a wicked cool jacket.

Even though Jiro had offered for her to change with her, they still didn't know each other very well so Mika thought instead of standing with her and it being a bit awkward, she would find the people she did feel closer too already. Although in the back of her head, she realised she needed to try and make more of an effort with the girls in her class. _I guess living with Oniichan for the last five years made it easier for me to get on with guys?_

"Hey thanks!" He smiled back, buzzing with excitement.

Bakugo was stood next to him with a manic kind of outfit on. It was wild and Mika was very reluctant to admit, that it looked pretty cool. He had on a black vest and combat trousers with an orange 'X' across his chest with a green belt with what looked like grenades stuck into it. He had big combat boots with orange detailing and metal knee pads. Then across his face he wore a type of black mask, his crimson eyes glaring out from them. The coolest part was what he had on his arms. Massive green grenades with the pins and everything were wrapped around his arms and Mika wanted to know what they did. _Do they increase his explosions? if so, that would be pretty cool._

"Isn't it so awesome that we are only in week one and we already get to wear our costumes… this is wicked!" Eijiro enthused as he poked and prodded at his own outfit. His was a lot less casual than Denki's. Eijiro had some cool combat trousers on with a massive red belt with red fabric flowing from it. He was completely topless however with some cool gear like arm bands that wrapped around his shoulders.

"Yours looks awesome too!" Denki beamed at her as he pointed to her.

"Thanks, it's a little more stomach than I'm used to showing but…"

"No no no… its perfect" She heard Mineta muttering from beside her, she jumped at his sudden appearance. _Where did he come from? Wait a second, is he?_ "If I stand close enough, I can get a peek right up your top…"

Mika's face darkened and everyone around her felt her aurar shift. It was almost like a black like mist had appeared around her as she flashed him a crazed emerald glare that promised nothing short of disembowelment. Denki and Eijiro took a step back away from her holding their hands up to try and calm her down, whilst Bakugo just looked on with a scowl on his face.

"I would rethink your current position… if you want to see the end of today!" Mika growled, taking a step towards Mineta that had him squealing and rushing off to hide behind Iida, who merely started scolding him for his perverse ways which did look amusing in his massive robotic get up. Once Mineta was gone, Mika calmed herself down and took a deep breath.

"Gross little perv" She huffed as the three boys around her shuddered.

"Man, you can be super scary Mika-chan…" Eijiro chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his head. Mika ignored the comment, pretending that it didn't bother her. She knew that she wasn't the friendliest of people in the world, but she liked to think that she wasn't so scary. _Scary like a villain, well done Mika._

"Sensei! This appears to be the same field used in the entrance exam. Will we once again be performing cityscape manoeuvres?" Iida piped up once everyone had calmed down. All Might stood watching over them all with his signature grin.

"Nope, you'll be moving onto step two! Indoor anti-personnel battle training!" He announced and the whole class listened intently.

"Villain battles are most commonly seen outdoors but… statistically the most heinous villains are more likely to appear indoors! Between confinement, house arrest, and black-market deals... In this hero society of ours the cleverest villains out there lurk indoors" He explained, and everyone was taking it all in, for they had never thought about it like that before. Of course, on the news and in the headlines the outdoor battles always got all the coverage, because the news stations could get there to watch and film and get evidence. Mika realised then that, indoor battles could be done out of the eye of civilians and therefore no one would ever see them on the TV. It was clever, and she wanted to be able to write it all down, but her sparkly stationary was back in the classroom. _I shall have to try and remember that, that was a good piece of information for sure!_

"You'll now be split into Villain teams and Hero teams and face off in two on two indoor battles!" All Might shouted out striking a hard and strong pose. Everyone looked to each other with a mixture of apprehension and excitement.

"So… no basic training?" Tsuyu Asui spoke up, and a few people nodded along with her question.

"Practical experience teaches you the basics!" All Might responded with a fist pump. "The distinction here is that you won't be fighting disposable robots!"

The class erupted into questions then, everyone trying their best to get their voices heard and Mika could see that All Might was about ready to bust a blood vessel trying to catch each and every question.

"What determines victory?" Yaoyorozu Momo queried.

"Can I just blast everyone away?" Bakugo rumbled.

"Are you threatening to expel someone like Aizawa-sensei did?" Uraraka asked.

"How do we proceed to divide ourselves into teams?" Iida raised his hand up the highest.

"How fabulous is my cape?" Aoyama chipped in, making Mika roll her eyes at him.

 _Hang on… there's an odd number of us… 21 to be exact. How are we going to split into two's?_

"One at a time, my quirk isn't super hearing!" All Might finally bellowed over them all. Mika took the chance to voice her question and raised her hand, waving it around for him to notice her.

"Ah yes, young Yamada, what is the problem?" He asked with a sigh now that everyone had quietened down for him to hear properly.

"There are 21 of us, All Might-sensei… is there going to be one team of three?" She asked. Some of the rest of the class realising too and nodding along with her question.

"This is true, thank you young Yamada… there will indeed be one team of three! Now listen up…" All Might began, pulling what looked like notes out from his pocket. "Here's the deal, the villains will be hiding a nuclear weapon in the hideout and the heroes have to go in and take care of it! The heroes have a limited amount of time to either capture the villains or secure the weapon, the villain must either capture the heroes or protect the weapon until the time is up!"

"Makes sense, Pros often have to team up with heroes from other agencies on the spot during emergencies…" Midoriya pondered, and everyone let out a chorus of 'ahhhs' for finally understanding, Iida especially let out a string of apologies for getting ahead of himself.

After everything was settled All Might pulled out a bag and went around so everyone could pick their lot. On the pieces of paper were just a letter and from their everyone made their way into their teams. Mika ended up with the letter 'J' and went about trying to find who was on her team. Turned out she was the third wheel in Eijiro and Hanta Sero's team and she immediately bowed and apologised for mucking up their team.

"Don't be silly Yamada-san, we are going to kick butt!" Sero smiled patting her on the shoulder.

"Ok then, I hope that we all work well together!" She tried a small smile.

"Moving on, first up are… The heroes as team 'A' and the villains as team 'D'!" All Might announced and the whole class looked between Midoriya and Bakugo as the smirk on Bakugo's face grew quite sinister.

Once everyone was set up and the rest of the class were in the viewing room, Mika stood between Denki and Eijiro with a frown on her face. She was nervous for this battle, and if she was reading everyone else right, they were too. Even though they had only known each other for a few days, it didn't take a genius to know that there was bad blood between Midoriya and Bakugo and that that could cause a problem. All Might went about showing them all how they could watch on the screens before them, but Mika was lost in thought. _Bakugo has said many a time that he wanted to pummel Midoriya into the ground, and if Izuku-chan hasn't managed to control his quirk properly yet, he could be in for a complete thrashing._

"Are you worried, Mika-chan?" Eijiro asked, poking her cheek to wake her out of her thoughts.

"I am, I think Bakugo is going to use this as a chance to go all out on Izuku-kun!" She explained, and Eijiro nodded, eyes flashing up to the screens with a hint of worry.

"I hadn't thought of that…"

"All Might will step in if it gets too far!" Denki offered them both.

"Alright, looks like they are getting started…" All Might called out and everyone huddled around the screens behind their celebrity sensei. "… watch closely everyone and try to learn something!"

Mika watched intently as Midoriya and Uraraka climbed in through a window and seemed to be talking and pointing. Then as they finally decided which way to go they set off down the hallway. Mika let her eyes then scan the upper floor monitors where Iida was stood in a wide stance in front of the Nuclear device, but Bakugo was nowhere to be seen. She searched all the screens and when she didn't initially see him.

"Where did Bakugo go…" She tried but was cut off mid-sentence.

"OH, SNEAK ATTACK!" Mineta shouted pointing to one of the middle screens that showed Bakugo leaping into the air at the end of a hallway just as Midoriya and Uraraka were approaching. Everyone tensed as they watched Bakugo launch an explosion at them, but Midoriya dived out the way taking Uraraka down with him. Once the smoke cleared from the way of the screen everyone could see that Midoriya had half of his face mask burnt away but luckily, he hadn't received any damage.

"Woah, that was close" Denki gasped as they all peered at the screens.

"That's low Bakugo, sneak attacks are so unmanly!" Eijiro shouted at the screens.

"Why do you sound so surprised?" Mika sighed.

Bakugo could be seen shouting at Midoriya, with a wild grin on his face before launching out towards him. Everyone in the room fell silent when the unassuming Midoriya dodged the punch and grabbed Bakugo's arm and used his momentum against him by throwing him over his shoulder before he managed to slam him into the ground. It was an incredibly impressive move and Mika found herself fist pumping the air, Denki spotted and joined in.

It could be seen on the screen that Bakugo had pulled himself up and now Midoriya and Bakugo were both shouting at each other, but due to the screens no one apart from All Might could hear and it was frustrating as hell. A few of the class were trying to get All Might to tell them what they were saying to each other, but he wasn't letting on at all. _I bet Midoriya is freaking out right now, if only he could control his quirk without breaking any bones, then he would be able to go hard right back at Bakugo…_

"The Hero team are at a real disadvantage huh?" Mina asked All Might with a worried look on her face.

"It's like Aizawa told you… say it with me…" All Might built them up.

"…PLUS ULTRA!" Everyone shouted. Mika on the other hand just rolled her eyes.

"Ah, monsieur Bakugo is…" Aoyama called out, making everyone turn in time to see the severely pissed off blonde launching another attack head on against Midoriya. After he dodged it again, he obviously shouted for Uraraka to go on ahead for all of a sudden, she started sprinting away from the fight. Mika watched as they fought, all the while soaking in both of their fighting styles and it certainly looked like they were a good match for each other if it was just a full-on fist fight. Midoriya seemed to be able to gauge Bakugo's attacks, and that was what was keeping him fighting at the moment. Yet if he was going to reject his quirk because of the damage it does, then it was only a matter of time before Bakugo overpowered him and that was that. _Come on Izuku-kun, you can do this!_ It was at this point that Midoriya bolted off down the hallway as fast as he could. You could practically see the anger radiating off Bakugo in waves.

"Wow, he's really angry!" Denki spoke warily. "It's scary"

"Such a ray of sunshine, what's his problem?" Mika scoffed running a hand through her hair, as Eijiro then rested his elbow on her shoulder.

"Oh look, Uraraka has found the villains lair!" Tsuyu shouted over everyone.

Uraraka was found peering around the corner into the lair in one of the top left-hand screens and everyone was practically climbing over each other to be able to see. She looked as though she was scoping it out whilst Iida paced in front of the Nuclear weapon. Everyone could tell that he must have been talking because every now and again he would make chopping notions with his hands.

"Reckon she is going to wait there for Deku?" Mina asked out loud.

"Oh, she's been spotted" All Might announced.

It looked as though Uraraka was laughing at Iida, and that very motion had caused him to be able to spot her. They then engaged in some talking for there was a lot of hand waving going on. Mika's eyes travelled back over the screens till she spotted Bakugo, he seemed to be fumbling around with the gauntlets on his arms and it looked as though he was muttering to himself as he went. Mika couldn't help but take note about the pure drive he had, but it was just too overshadowed by the fact that he looked as though he wanted to outright murder Izuku-kun. Bakugo was striding down the hall, when all of a sudden, he paused and cocked his head. _Ohhh Izuku, he can hear you!_ Mika pinched Eijiro and pointed to the screen that showed Bakugo turning on his heel and striding back to towards where Midoriya was hiding.

Bakugo rounded the corner and immediately paused mid step, bringing his gauntlet up to aim right at Midoriya. It was at this point they started talking again and whatever they were saying put All Might's back up for he shot forward and started shouting down the microphone attached to his cape.

"Bakugo, stop it now kid… you trying to kill him?"

"Kill him?" Mineta gasped.

The whole room fell dead silent as the screens before them that had shown their classmates exploded and went white from the blast that shot from Bakugo's gauntlet. The sound of it echoed around the training ground and the surveillance room that they were in shook violently.

"I thought this was just supposed to be a practice?" Eijiro shouted.

"All Might, what the hell?" Mika shouted angrily. _As if you can just stand there and let Bakugo go this far, this is outrageous._

"Midoriya? … Kid?" All Might ignored them by shouting down his own mic.

Whilst everyone was waiting for the dust to settle on the screens where the two childhood friends were fighting. Uraraka was making her move in the top left hand screen, she had used the distraction of the massive explosion to launch herself into a gravity defying leap right over Iida's head, yet he was much too fast and sped past grabbing the weapon and rushing off so she couldn't grab it.

"Sensei, shouldn't you stop him?" Mika heard Eijiro call out to All Might. Her attention snapping back to the fight. "… Bakugo's crazy, he's looking to kill!"

"No" Came All Might abrupt answer, he then let his smile falter before lifting up the mic so he could talk through the them. "Bakugo, use that move again… and I will forcibly end the match, you will lose… using massive attacks like that indoors is just asking to have your own stronghold destroyed, it's a bad move and a good way to lose points!"

"Like that will be enough, All Might-sensei… look you just made him even more angry" Mika pointed out as Bakugo completely lost his shit and set off on another attack.

The whole class watched in complete horror as Bakugo literally flew over Midoriya before letting off an explosion right into his back, then as if that wasn't enough, he grabbed his arm and swung him round and slammed him down onto his back. Mika and most of the class winced as Izuku rolled over slowly with a pained expression, scuttling off to stand with his back against the wall of the hallway.

"I can't watch this…" Mika shook her head and turned her back on the screens. Denki looked worriedly from the screen to her and placed a hand on her shoulder as he continued to watch,

 _What is that mad crazy idiot thinking, being so completely ruthless like that in the class exercises. It's not as if Izuku was someone he actually needed to dispatch. He was taking the whole villain role to the extreme._ Her Fathers words flashed in her head and then it clicked. _Maybe there's a part of him that already thinks he's a villain, and so acting the part only comes too naturally to him… I understand that. But still, that doesn't mean that you should aim to hurt someone who should be your friend!_

"He's running" Yaoyorozu stated with a sympathetic voice.

"It's not manly but he doesn't have a choice… its odd!" Eijiro muttered as if to himself.

"Tell me when it's over, ok?" Mika whispered to Denki and he nodded to her.

It didn't take much longer before the class were all shouting at the screens and then before she knew it All Might was shouting himself. Mika peeked over her shoulder and saw everyone grinning madly. _What?_

"The Hero… The Hero Team winnnnnsssssssss!" All Might shouted and the whole class cheered.

"The Hell?" Mika gasped, as she saw Midoriya laying in a heap on the floor, Bakugo standing over him with a look of pure shock on him.


	6. Chapter 6 - Dark Charge

Chapter 6 – Dark Charge

In the end, Midoriya had to be carried off to the nurse's office with a note to be seen to by Recovery Girl and All Might had pulled the rest of them into the surveillance room. Everyone was looking at Bakugo with a nervous look, for they had been expecting him to be absolutely fuming, but when he stepped into the room his face was blank, eyes staring at his feet the whole time

Iida was awarded the V.I.P of the battle due to his dedication at playing the role and improvising when his teammate had run off to enact his own personal vendetta. Mika agreed with everyone when they said that Iida was the only one that really took the task seriously and managed to really get stuck in and make the best of the situation that was handed to him. Everyone had expected more of a fight from Bakugo at the outcome, but he merely stood there. Mika had half a mind to go over to him and give him a verbal beating for being so reckless and that endangering the lives of the class was just unacceptable, but from the look on his face she thought that he might have been thinking along those lines anyway. The way his eyes glazed over and a look of hurt pride settled on his face, Mika turned from him and settled in to watching the next battle squished right between Denki and Eijiro.

 _Maybe this was what he needed, a release of all that pent-up anger and aggression? Not that it was right, but hopefully this will teach him a lesson and he will leave poor Izuku alone from now on._ Mika thought.

Mika tuned back in, in time to hear Yaoyorozu giving a complete teacher like breakdown of everything that went right and wrong for the first battle. The way she analysed it all and explained it was eloquently done and it had everyone nodding with her along the way. Mika couldn't help her eyes fall from her face down to her extremely amply sized chest a few times, and really, with them on show like that Mika wasn't surprised the whole of the lads in the class weren't either.

"NOWWWW, it's time for us to be moving on with the other battles…" All Might announced, looking rather flustered at having his student dissect the battle of the past teams better than he could have.

It was Shoto Todoroki and Mezo Shoji as Heroes against Toru Hagakure and Mashirao Ojiro as the villains. Mika had no idea if the matches were good or not, of course, she had seen these classmates in action when they were going through their Quirk tests on the first day, but it was different when put in situations like this. Mika had learnt that much from watching the first battle go so badly. Mezo Shoji was pretty intimidating looking, with this dupli arms, they looked like they could take on Mashirao, but then there was Toru Hagakure who was pretty much naked and therefore completely invisible. It was just too hard to call what strategies would work. _Although Shoto Todoroki is crazy talented and powerful…_

Mika had watched intently as Shoji had scouted out by using his Dupli arms. From the screens everyone could see that he was forming ears at the end of his arms to try and hear what the Villain team were up to, and it obviously worked for he then sprouted mouths at the end of his arms, relaying what he had found back to his team mate.

"Bet you a packet of pocky each that the Heroes win" Mika nudged both Denki and Eijiro in the sides gaining their attention.

"Huh?"

"Gambling, Mika-chan… that's so manly!" Eijiro winked at her, to which she just shrugged her shoulders back to them.

"You're on" Denki grinned, all three of them shaking on it and turning back to the screens.

Everyone watched as Todoroki then casually strolled into the building, from the fuzzy screens his face was hidden as his fair fell over his eyes. He looked incredibly calm as he pointed for his team mate to wait outside, and then before the villains even had the chance to really put up a fight, he had raised his right hand up to a mains pipe on the side of the corridor, a white twinkling sheen of ice spreading out from the impact and creeping up through the whole building. _Now that was amazing, his power is incredible, and if his range is a whole building surely, he must be the strongest out of all of us?_ Mika thought. _That's two packets of pocky for me_

"WOAH" Mina gushed.

"Has he frozen them to the ground?" Mika asked, finding it difficult to mask how impressed she was as Todoroki just strolled past Ojiro and placed a hand on the weapon, therefore ending the battle with a win for the heroes. Once he had firmly placed his hand on the weapon, steam started to appear and the whole building thawed out immediately. All Might started enthusing about how Todoroki had half cold and half hot quirks, which had everyone amazed. _Two quirks, well I'll be…_

Denki and Eijiro both turned their gazes down to the girl between them, paling when they took in the wicked grin she was sporting as she chuckled.

"How about we try again for more sweets on the next one?" She asked.

"Ohhh scary"

"So manly"

Throughout the rest of the activity Mika was pretty much on top and was excited at the huge Pocky load coming her way. It was great to be able to joke around with the two lads. She had decided that she liked being in their company, their humour was similar, and they didn't call her out on her moody shit, or if they did it was only as a joke and not because she was putting them off. It was refreshing for people to be getting on with her, as she was and not who they wanted her to be. In the end it turned out to be her team up next as the villains against Tokoyami and Tsuyu as the heroes. All Might escorted all five of them out to the building that they would be battling in and ran them through the basics once more to make sure that they understood.

Mika was feeling super excited, although being the villain was a little bit of a sore spot for her, she knew it was all in jest and that the real take out of this exercise was how she was able to work with her team against the 'heroes'. As she stood in the room where herself and Sero and Eijiro were setting up against the Heroes she was basically bouncing on the balls of her feet to get stuck in.

"Hey, reckon I should create like… a wall of tape between the weapon and the door?" Sero asked, pointing around the Nuclear device.

"Yeah, that's a good plan… I don't mind being the first line of defence, if that's how we're playing this?" Eijiro grinned, his skin hardening up making his skin look like pure rock.

"Hmmmm" Mika hummed. _Tokoyami has a Quirk called Dark Shadow… I wonder if mine is compatible?_

"What you thinkin, Mika-chan?" Eijiro asked as Sero got to work making a maze of his sticky tape around them.

"Thinking about how alike dark shadow and myself are…" She spoke, setting off to stand guard at the edge of the room, making sure she was extra careful at avoiding Sero's tape by ducking and stepping over it at times.

"Ready… BEGIN!" Came All Might's shout down their earpieces.

Mika looked back at her team as they stood before the Nuclear Weapon, herself stationed right by the door that lead off into a dark hallway. The anticipation was building and building within her and she was started to bounce on the balls of her feet again. No one made a noise as they waited with bated breath, until Mika's ears perked. Footsteps.

"Tokoyami is coming…" She whispered into her mic so the other two could hear her right in their ear.

"What about Tsuyu?" Sero asked back.

"She will probably try to sneak in…" She stated, her bored eyes glued down the hall as she pulled her emerald ribbon from her wrist and pulled her hair up into a high ponytail, the ribbon done in a knot so the lengths of it hung down her back with the pony tail. "… You'll have to block her from getting the weapon"

Mika's eyes, that were a lot better suited to seeing in the dark than normal peoples due to her quirk spotted the outline of Tokoyami at the end of the dark hall and felt a grin spread over her face. _Time to put my game face on… this is when all the combat training should come in useful, thanks Oniisan!_

Tokoyami strolled to the centre of the hallway and paused, eying his adversary at the other end. Mika stood with her hand on her hip, massive grin spread across her face as she stared him down. While Tokoyami didn't find her all that scary looking, just intense, he was nervous as to see how her Quirk would hold up against his own. It was pretty dark in the hallway yet not enough for Dark Shadow to go too wild. It was just right for him, and he hoped that his advantage wasn't shared by Mika.

"You want to make the first move, or shall I?" Mika taunted.

"DARK SHADOW!" Tokoyami shouted, his shadowy accomplice erupted out from the cloak that made up most of Tokoyami's hero costume. It screeched out around him and Mika fell into a strong stance, her dominant foot forward ready. She immediately threw her hands out and the thick shadow from the hallway started streaming into her palms. Her eyes faded out to black as the smirk grew on her face. Her body made quick work of converting the darkness she was consuming into energy as it spread through her with every pump of her heart, the pressure building and building.

Once she had enough dark energy flowing through her for now, she snapped her fists shut and sunk lower in her stance. _You've got this, remember your training._

The moment dark shadow started flying towards her was the moment everything seemed to slow down for her. She could feel her limbs buzzing with dark charged energy just waiting to be released. Dark Shadow was soaring towards her with one claw outstretched, as if it was going to grab her in one massive dark fist. She could see no other alternative than to show a bit of brute strength and she pulled her right fist right back, clenched as hard as she could, fingernails biting into her palms.

Then just as the shadowy claw was about to engulf her she let out an almighty shout and punched forwards, her fist slamming into the claw. Just like she had thought, Dark Shadow was able to harden itself. The shock wave of claw and dark charged fist colliding sent a rush of black smoke flying out down the hallway. With a puff she took a step forward and shoved Dark Shadow back away from her. It went soaring right back to hover over Tokoyami, where it started muttering to its host.

As the rest of her discharged black smoke dissipated, she caught the quick glimpse of green and black leaping over past her head and she raised the mic up to her mouth.

"Tsuyu is through… she's all yours!" Mika grinned, ecstatic that she had managed to predict the 'Hero Teams' movements. She heard Sero and Eijiro confirm back to her before she huffed to catch her breath. She straightened up again and waved to her opponent. "Ne, Dark Shadow-kun… fancy a dance?"

"Don't mind if we do" Tokoyami clipped back at her.

With that Dark Shadow launched at her again, this time rabidly trying to get a hit in whilst she used her dark energy to dodge and counterattack. Mika was making the most of the energy that she had consumed by faking left and right, favouring her right arm when it came to deflecting the claws as they reached for her. Yet Dark Shadows claws were getting larger and larger the more she dodged him, and she was starting to run out of room in the hallway. _I only need to hold him off till the timer runs out, that's so long as the other two don't let Tsuyu past their defence._

Back in the surveillance room, the class was watching with captivated attention as the two dark mysterious students clashed head on. All Might had his brow quirked as he analysed their fighting styles.

"Mika-chan has some epic combat skills!" Denki cheered.

"Indeed… she sure does look animated now, huh?" Yaoyorozu pondered.

"She has taken a leaf out of my book and embodied what it means to be a Villain, such dark charisma!" Iida chimed in, making Uraraka clap her hands in agreement.

"It is true, both Tokoyami and Yamada have displayed great knowledge and foresight in their plan making against their opponents and came up equally matched… there is a lot to learn from them" All Might stated in his powerful tone. The class nodding away whilst the screens flickered with action.

Tsuyu had managed to make a break for it past Tokoyami and Yamada as they engaged with each other. Yet upon leaping into the main room she was met with what looked like a spiders web of Sero's sticky tape surrounding her target. She frowned and tried to spy out an easy way in. Yet before she had a chance to locate a good route, Eijiro was rushing at her with his rock-solid arms poised and reaching to attack.

Just when he thought that he was right upon her, she leapt out from his grip and up into the corner of the room. Her eyes darting about till she found an opening through the sticky tape. She jumped towards it, and just as she was about to land Sero shot towards her from her left, swinging from his elbow sticky tape. He grabbed at her and swung round with her trying to fight out his grip. Seeing no other alternative she shot her tongue out and latched onto the sticky tape the opposite site of the room away from the two 'Villians', then yanked herself free from Sero's grip.

"HA! You're stuck now!" Sero shouted as Eijiro joined him.

"Ribbit… I wouldn't think so!" She said around her tongue as it was still stuck to the tape she was hanging from.

Meanwhile back in the hallway Mika was panting as she watched Dark Shadow and Tokoyami. They had been going at it till Mika had used a particularly charged kick that sent them both falling back away from each other. Once back up on their feet they faced each other, both of them grinning at each other wickedly.

"It seems we have met a worthy adversary, Dark Shadow!" Tokoyami spoke sagely to the being hovering above him.

"Let me at her… I'll show her who's boss!" Dark Shadow growled in response, raising a rather large claw in the air and pointing it at her again.

Mika's eyes remained blacked out, but she was starting to feel the charged dark energy in her muscles depleting. If she wanted to continue on as she had been she would have to consume more, but as soon as she did that she was opening herself up for an attack where she would the struggle to defend herself. She looked at the raised claw and an idea popped into her head. Her hand slowly reached down and patted her black trench coat pocket, feeling the wrap of capture tape in it. _If I taunt Dark Shadow enough, he will launch at me like he did in his first attack, I'll be able to dodge it and wrap the tape around Tokoyami. Yes… that will have to do!_

"Dark Shadow-kun, you're ever so cute…" She started, her head tilting as she smiled wickedly at him.

"Huh?" It responded with a crackle.

"Mm Mm, so adorable, I just want to cuddle you right up" She teased, wrapping her arms around herself and wiggling around a little, she could see Dark Shadow getting ticked off, and she knew what to say that could finish the deal. "How about you come and be my pet, instead?"

That was all it took, for Dark Shadow cursed her as he shot forwards with his large claw outstretched. She couldn't help but crack an even bigger grin as she waited right till the last second before running at it and throwing herself into a slide along the floor. Her hand grabbing at the tape from her pocket as Dark Shadow missed and soared over the top of her. She paid no attention to it as it raced back after her, but the leftover energy boost in her legs had her up and skidding right into Tokoyami's face before he had a chance to react. She flung the tape around him and pulled it tight.

"YAMADA-SAN CATCHES TOKOYAMI!" She heard All Might announce down the earpiece. "But hang on… what's this?... TSUYU HAS MADE CONTACT WITH THE WEAPON… THE HERO TEAM WINS!" He bellowed. Mika let out a breath as the small amount of black energy left her body in a puff of black smoke. _Awh man, we must have been so close to the time limit too. At least I caught Tokoyami, I will take that as my own personal win._

She sighed and let go of the tape so that Tokoyami could unwrap himself. She huffed and knelt over so she could catch her breath, her body still buzzing with excitement.

"Masterful performance" Tokoyami complimented as he finished untangling himself, Dark Shadow tucked back away within him. He straightened up and offered Mika his hand to shake.

"Like wise… It was a pleasure, Tokoyami-san!" She took his hand and shook it, both of them bowing at the same time.

All Might pulled them all out and they joined the rest of the class up in the surveillance room. All Might was thoroughly pleased that both teams had played to their strong points and was impressed at the ingenuity of the Villain Team in creating a barrier both with Sero's Tape and Eijiro, and then against Mika too.

It felt amazing for Mika to be praised for her hard work. Yes, her brother always praised her for her care and attention when training, but it was always nice hearing it from others. She had been bought up with the strict and ever daunting presence of her Father and he never once gave her praise, instead piling the world on top of her shoulders. She looked to All Might's bright fierce smile and couldn't help but feel a little brighter in herself, a surge of confidence washing through her. _That's the symbol of peace all right… I worked hard to be here, but I need to work even harder to make it all the way to the top. If I get praise and encouragement like this along the way, I'm sure I will be able to make it._


	7. Chapter 7 - Secrets

Chapter 7 – Secrets

"Well done everyone!" All Might praised as he stopped them all at the exit to the training grounds. Everyone was wiped, but they were all wearing big grins. Well everyone except Bakugo who was staring glumly at his shoes and Mika who was back to sporting her bored look from between Eijiro and Denki. "No serious injuries, apart from Midoriya's. Great team work though, you all did splendidly considering this was your first training exercise!"

"Coming after Aizawa-Sensei, such a straightforward class is... almost a let-down" Jiro sighed, as she not so quietly whispered to Yaoyorozu.

"We teachers are free to hold no-nonsense classes if we choose! Now, I'm off to give young Midoriya his evaluation! Change out of those costumes and head back to the classroom… AND WATCH AS I LEAVE LIKE A REAL HERO, LIKE I CONSTANTLY HAVE SOMEWHERE TO BE!" He boomed, then before anyone had a chance to ask him anything further, he had erupted into a mad dash out the exit leaving them spluttering in his dust.

"He's in a hurry, so cool" Mineta gushed as he coughed out a mouthful of dirt.

"Come on, we have Midnight-sensei next, then lunch!" Iida called, trying to herd them all into the changing rooms. Mika hesitated as the rest of them started heading out. _Should I offer my help to Midoriya? Although I'm sure that Recovery Girl has it all sorted._

She was pulled from her thoughts when she was bumped into, her shoulder being knocked aside. Her bored eyes now furious as they flew to meet ticked off crimson ones.

"Watch where ya going, huh?" She spat, pulling at the ribbon in her hair so she could tie it back around her wrist with one big huff. A few black curls falling over the left of her face, covering one bored eye.

"Piss off, curly" He spat over his shoulder.

"You should apologise, you know" She called after him, eyes boring in the him.

"You were in my way!" He growled back.

"Not to me and you know it…"

"Fuck off!"

Mika smirked at him, knowing that she had gotten under his skin again before following a few paces behind him as they headed off to catch up with the others.

The girls were a bundle of energy as they all quickly changed washed and got into their school uniforms again. All of them breaking down each other's battles and cheering each other on. Mika was swept up into the hype as she changed beside Jiro, who was buzzing about her capturing Tokoyami.

"It was so cool, you were both so well matched we thought it would go one for ages" She exclaimed as she shoved her feet into the grey knee-high socks all girls wore.

"It was exhilarating, that's for sure" Mika nodded, pulling her own socks on too. "That was a neat trick tracking your opponents with your earphone jacks too"

"Oh thanks, I didn't get a chance to really test them out with my amp boots but… maybe next time" She huffed, pointing to her thick boots and now as Mika paid more attention to them she could see they were indeed like mini speakers.

"So you plug your earphone jacks into the boots and create a killer sound wave, like my Oniichan?" Mika asked, pausing what she was doing to pay attention, as Jiro launched into an explanation about her quirk and how she could use it. Mika listened fascinated and asked questions along the way too. _It's almost like Oniichan's, they would complement each other so well. Jiro-chan, you're so cool._

"Come on… the rest of the girls are ready!" Jiro chuckled, once they were both done and just sat around chatting whilst the others set off out the door.

Mika quickly shoved her feet into her shoes and grabbed up her bags and followed the rest of the girls back up to their classroom. The rest of the day was held on a high after the fun they had all had testing out their quirks on each other and battling it out. It was all anyone could talk about for the whole day, and once everyone had finished going over their own battles, the one that no one could have closure on, was the Bakugo vs Midoriya fight. The lads had tried to talk to Bakugo about it, but he was getting more and more irate with every question and it was only after Mika announced that Bakugo was ignoring them that they moved on and chatted with Iida and Uraraka about it instead.

Now it wasn't because Mika felt bad for Bakugo with the lads flocking around him every chance they got to ask him stupid questions, it was because by flocking around her desk, they were also encroaching on hers and Minta was standing awfully too close for her liking.

"Might as well leave Sunshine alone, he isn't going to give you anything worth hearing…" She loudly stated over the top of another one of Rikido Sato's questions about whether he felt bad for injuring Midoriya. "Why don't you go and ask Iida about his super cool hero brother?"

With that they all shrugged their shoulders and left Bakugo to scowl at the tabletop in front of him. Mika watched him for she was sat diagonally behind him and she couldn't help but almost feel bad for him. _If he was any kind of human, he would be feeling pretty bad about hurting his childhood friend._

"Don't need you looking out for me" Bakugo growled over his shoulder to her, his face furious. She merely grinned coldly back at him.

"I just wanted the little grape perv away from my desk, so shut your mouth"

"Tch"

It was only natural that everyone wanted to talk about it though. No one could understand why Bakugo had such a chip on his shoulder when it came to Midoriya. Mika had been trying to place her finger on it all day. _It could be because Izuku-kun had hidden his quirk from Bakugo, but Izuku insinuated that Bakugo had treated him much the same in Middle-school. Did something happen between them, did Midoriya steal his candy when he was little or something?_ It was a modern mystery.

BREAK

The door slid open and the whole class looked up spotting a very tired and beaten up Midoriya. His face was a little scratched up and both arms were bandaged, his right in a sling. He looked rough.

"Oh, Midoriya's here! Welcome back man!" Eijiro shouted and everyone jumped up out of their seats. Mina, Eijiro and Sato were the first to jump up into his face with questions. The rest of the class seemed to relax now that they knew that he was ok. No matter how much they had been gossiping about it all day, they all wanted to make sure that their classmate was fine. Mika too, although she was telling everyone the only reason she was sticking around was because she had to wait for her Brother.

As soon as Midoriya stepped foot into the classroom, Bakugo huffed and grabbed his bag to leave.

"I don't know what you were saying back there, but that was a wild battle!" Eijiro gushed as Mina bounced around next to him looking just as pumped and eager.

"We were all super pumped after that crazy first round!" Sato claimed, looking fierce as he shook Midoriya's hand.

"We were all just discussing the battle training" The red head carried on and Mika merely sighed.

"Not just now, try all day more like" She sighed, slumping in her chair.

"They are so noisy" Tokoyami agreed from behind her. She twisted in her seat to face him and regarded him as he slouched against the desk watching them all fan girl and boy over Izuku.

"At least they care though, I suppose" Mika added and Tokoyami turned his head to regard her.

"You are referring to the fact that Bakugo has left without apologising to Midoriya?" He asked.

"There was no need to be so ruthless, it was petty and childish" Mika spoke with a frown as she soaked in Midoriya's bandaged arms and scratches. _Maybe I should do something about them, if Recovery Girl couldn't._

"Try telling him that"

"He's a dick, there's no denying it" She huffed just as Iida appeared before them

"Desks are not meant to be sat upon, please get off" The intense boy shrieked chopping his hand in the air at Tokoyami.

"Don't get bent out of shape, Iida!" Mika sighed, making to stand up and grab her bags. "See ya tomorrow"

Mika waved over her shoulder as she strolled over to Izuku and Uraraka, the latter who was fussing over Midoriya as if he was made of glass. Mika came to a stop and pointed to his injuries with a raised brow.

"I'm fine Mika-chan" He sighed.

"Nope, walk and talk?" She offered, not taking no for an answer, the two classmates looked to each other before Midoriya nodded to her and waved goodbye to Uraraka.

"Hey, I need to catch up to Kacchan anyway" He stated, grabbing his bag with his better hand.

"Ok, see you both tomorrow!" Uraraka called after them.

Once they had left the classroom and were heading down the hallway, he started chancing glances at her. Mika was going to offer something that she had only ever used in secret, but it felt right, and she hated seeing good people getting hurt. There was a part of her that was nervous, but she had been around Midoriya enough to know that he was a genuinely lovely person, and that he would never ever use her like she had been used before. The others in the class she wasn't so sure about, but there was something about the way his emotions were so easily read through his eyes that put her at ease. The bigger drive though was the unbelievable uncomfortable feeling she got whenever someone she knew or cared for was hurting when she could do something about it.

' _Nana-chan… you're bleeding again? Why?... '_

It was something that just didn't sit right with her and she knew she had the responsibility to make it better.

"Izuku-kun, can I tell you a secret?" She asked pausing midway down the hall, the beginnings of the sunset settling in the hallway casting a dark pink hue over everything.

"Oh uhh… sure?"

"You've got to swear on your life and everything you hold dear that you won't tell another soul" She urged making him gulp but not anyway.

"I can, well… I have this thing that works kind of like healing" She stated. _Oh shit, well here goes…_

"What?" Izuku gasped, looking to her with wide eyes. "NO WA…"

"Shhhh" She hushed him, pulling him gently more to the side of the hallway. "I want to offer my help"

"Oh no, please Mika-chan… It's my fault I got these"

"Don't be so daft, you fought so well, and he was just ruthless" She shook her head. "I… can't stand to see people in pain, so… please let me do just a little bit for you?"

Midoriya looked to his classmate with renewed awe. Not only was the mysterious Mika looking out for him, she was trusting him with a secret she hadn't felt brave enough to share with the rest of the class so far. He felt completely humbled by it and couldn't help the massive grin spread across his face at her. He nodded and watched as she in turn nodded back.

Mika set to unwrapping the bandage over his burnt arm and once it was off, she winced at how angry the burns along his skin looked.

"Recovery Girl said that I was too tired to try healing the burns…" He explained, and Mika merely sighed.

With one hand she reached out and pressed it against the burns, making Midoriya wince and bite his tongue. With her other hand she reached out and summoned the shadows and they began seeping up and into her hand. She concentrated with her eyes squeezed shut as to move the energy through her arm and across her chest and down her other, before she willed it into the burns. As soon as the energy started forming around Izuku's injury, she could feel the burns start to prick at her own arm. For that was how it worked, the shadow inflicted the pain onto the quirk user in a bid to heal it from the victim.

Before long the burning went down and she could feel Midoriya relax under her hand so she stopped, taking her hand off of Midoriya and sucking in a deep breath as she continued to leech into the shadows that sat on the floor beneath herself and Midoriya.

"WOW" He whispered, looking at the perfect skin on his arm, not even a blemish in sight. He had been impressed beyond belief at Recovery Girls Quirk but seeing the way Mika's umbrakinetic infinity had adapted into a multifaceted shadow quirk was fascinating, he wanted nothing more than to write it down as soon as possible before he forgot. Looking down he spotted her own arm becoming more and more red as if she was transferring the burns to herself and his mood dropped as his brow furrowed once more.

"Better?" She asked, pulling her sleeve down over her now burned arm.

"Can you heal if from your own arm?" He asked her, his voice serious.

"Yes, it just takes me a little more time… it will be gone in no time" She lied, throwing a fake smile his way. _I wish it worked like that, but no… I will be having to take a trip to recovery girl…_ She sighed internally.

"You are so lucky, Mika-chan!" He beamed to her once he thought she would be ok.

"Ohh…" She took a step back and blushed a little. _Only Oniichan says that._ "Thanks… you should run on ahead if you want to catch Bakugo up"

With that Midoriya flashed her another beaming grin before rushing off down the hallway. Mika watched him go until he had rounded the corner at the end of the hall and even then she let her eyes linger on the end of the hallway till she couldn't hear his quick footfall anymore. Her bored eyes then fell back down to her arm that was now sporting a particularly painful burn. _That's the first time I've willingly done that on anyone but myself and Oniichan._ The thought of letting someone else in on that aspect of her quirk was nerve racking. Her Father had all but beat it into her that a healing quirk was powerful, that being able to heal yourself and others during battle was something kin to winning straight off the bat. He never understood that it wasn't actual healing.

 _With that, you're mine… don't you ever tell anyone else about that it…_

Now the schoolteachers did know, but they had been told by her Oniichan to leave it till Mika was ready. Even though it was their jobs to be able to understand their pupils and their quirks in order to teach them effectively, so far no one had mentioned it. Having the whole student body know was something different to Mika though. She could imagine people trying to be all pally with her and trying to keep her close so that when they got in a battle, she would just be there to heal them up again. Help them get to the top. That's what her Father had wanted from her, so why wouldn't anyone else?

 _Maybe this will be different though, you trusted Midoriya enough to tell him and then use it on him, that must be saying something._ She thought, eyes glued to where the burn was. _He didn't deserve to gain those wounds from being in what was supposed to be a safe school environment. Plus, he seems like the most trustworthy out of the whole of Class 1-A._

"Mika?"

Mika jumped and span round to see her Oniichan wandering down the hall with Aizawa-sensei. Both of them were looking to her with confusion, so she straightened out and shook her head a little to rid herself of the bundle of thoughts running around her mind.

"You ok?" Oniichan asked, coming up and placing his hand on her head. It was times like this around his little sister that his Radio host persona slipped, and he took up the mantle of overprotective brother.

"Yeah, was looking for you… can we go to Recovery girl before going home?" She asked, her wall slipping a little and Hizashi was immediately turning to wave goodbye to Aizawa-sensei before grabbing Mika's bag for her and walking her to the nurse's office.


	8. Chapter 8 - Democracy

Chapter 8 – Democracy

At the start of the new week Mika had woken up and taken part in her usual routine with her Brother. Chasing each other out the bathroom so they weren't late, scarfing down an unhealthy breakfast whilst trying to fix Hizashi's hair for the day. Her Brother went through an alarming amount of hair products in a week and Mika found it absolutely hilarious. There was something that she had started to like about the routine of getting up in the morning. Instead of lying there hopelessly staring at the ceiling, she now had a rush about her, something that made her get up.

The weekend had been difficult like always, not having plans other than a session in the local gym and her dance lesson whilst her Oniichan was hosting his radio show on Sunday evening. She liked to go with him to his studio and whilst he was in being the epic radio host that he was, she would be in the dance studio with a class of students all around her age. She had always found dancing a fun way to keep herself in shape, she did also enjoy going to the gym and training up her combat skills, but there was nothing more freeing than sticking on a track and dancing. Her Brother had practically thrown the money at her when she had asked him if he minded if she went to the classes whilst he was being a DJ, and she had spent three hours every Sunday dancing ever since.

However, between the Saturday morning gym and training and the Sunday evening dancing class she spent the two days bumbling about the apartment doing not a lot. It was times like these when Hizashi worried about his little sister. When she had something keeping her busy she was ok, but when she was left to her own devices, he knew she locked herself away in her head and it wasn't healthy for her at all. He came back from running errands and meeting up with his friends like he normally did in his usual civilian clothes, hair tied back in a loose bun, every Saturday to find Mika sat at the kitchen table with her head resting in the crook of her elbow, staring at the clock.

The sight always made guilt wash over him as he punished himself with the reality that him going out left her all alone, but he couldn't sit with her and stare into space. He was trying the tough love aspect, in which he would leave her to it and in the end she would find her own way to entertain herself. It was a long process. It wasn't like she was close enough with any of her friends from school yet, it had only been a week. So, she couldn't just ring them up. He pulled his shoes off and wandered into the kitchen setting about making tea and pulling out the few sweets they had left around in a bowl on the side.

He had tried to ask her about school and how she was getting on, and she did chat to him for quite some time about everyone that she had met and the two lads that she was getting on with the most. Although Hizashi would have preferred her making some lifelong girlfriends, he was just happy that she was getting on well. From taking their English classes he could tell that Eijiro and Denki were decent kids too.

"How about that Uraraka girl, she seems friendly?" Hizashi tried, running a hand through the loose long blond strands of his hair.

"Yeah, she is really cute" Mika nodded, hand dipping into the bowl of hard candies on the kitchen table. Hizashi raised a brow at her wording but decided to let it go for now. "She's good pals with Izuku-kun and Iida-kun"

"Ah the kid who keeps breaking bones…" he nodded, linking the name to the green haired kid in his sister's class. "Hard core!"

"Yeah, that's Izuku Midoriya... He's really nice, and super cute as well" She blushed a little more.

"You like cute things huh, Mika-chan?" He chuckled scratching his head.

"How can I not?" She asked, tilting her head to the side and looking at him as If he had asked her if the sky was blue. He blushed and grabbed her into a massive hug.

"YOU ARE THE CUTEST!" His voice boomed, making Mika sweat drop. _Now or never Mika, come on…_

"I told him about Shadow Healing"

Hizashi let go of her and stood back so that he could get a good look at her to gauge how she wanted him to react. That was how it worked with Mika. If she was proud of something she would have this kind of happy anticipation on her face, but when she knew she had fucked up or let him down in something she had done or said, she would become more closed off and bored looking. Her face was a mixture of both, she really didn't know how he would react, and he knew that this lack of faith in trusting others was what her Father had done to her. He clenched his fists but sighed, sitting back down across the table from her.

"You can tell whoever you want, Mika… it's your quirk" He reasoned.

"But… I shouldn't right, because people will use me… What if Midoriya isn't as nice as I… uh, thought and then he goes and blabs and…" She had started to ramble so Hizashi held up his hand to silence her with a fond smile.

"I know that you had a horrid childhood, and that I did nothing about it till it was almost too late..." His hand moved to touch the tiny glass bottle pendent at the end of a long chain around his neck… "Not everyone in your life is going to use you, some people want to be around you, because you are you… you just need to learn to accept that!" He stated sagely.

"How do you know though?" She sighed, her green eyes latching onto his.

"Trust me?" He asked, holding out his hand.

"Yeah?" She puzzled to him but took his hand none the less.

"There you go then… come on, chin up… lets go for a walk to the shops for chocolate cakeeeeeee YEAHHHH!"

BREAK

"What kind of fresh living hell is this?" Mika deadpanned as she approached the school gates on Monday morning.

Hizashi had been called into school early and had therefore woken her up to make sure she didn't sleep in before rushing off. She didn't think much more about it till she had received a text from him warning her about the press. He was right about his message that read:

 _ **Swarm of nosey loud listeners at the school gate today, be careful… and nice.**_

A swarm it was. She was stood just down the road where she had full view of the main gates and before them was a crowd of people with mics and cameras so thick, she couldn't see the other side of the road. There were vans parked up all over the place with no regard to the 'No Parking' signs. It was chaos. Not to mention they were extremely loud, there were men and women screeching at students as they tried desperately to push through to get to school on time.

Mika sighed as she mentally prepared herself, yet instead caught sight of someone stood watching just like she was off to the other side of road to her. She looked him up and down could tell that he was neither press or a student. His grey hair was scraggily, and his outfit looked a little dirty in places, yet it was when he obviously felt her watching and turned his head towards her that she felt really uncomfortable. His eyes were red and lined as if he hadn't slept in a year. He looked her up and down and before she had a chance to do anything about it, she felt someone tap her on the shoulder.

"Hey Mika-chan!" Came Denki's voice. "Good weekend?"

"Lovely thanks…" She lied with a quick smile, before throwing her eyes back over the creepy man, but he had vanished out of sight, she frowned and turned back to her friend. "… how was yours?"

"Not too bad not too bad…what's all this about?"

"It's the press" She sighed. "Shall we stick together to try and get through?"

"Yeah sure" He smiled, offering her his elbow.

She loathed to take it and look like a little weakling, but she hated crowds, and this was just not the situation she put right up there as her favourite. She wound her arm through his and they set off towards the manic gates. _This is going to be hell._ She thanked her lucky stars that she wasn't having to fight through them all on her own, because she wasn't completely sure she wouldn't end up biting their heads off or throwing a punch.

Denki lead the way, towards the press and as soon as they were close, they were descended upon. Mika let out an involuntary screech when a woman grabbed her by the elbow and tried to pull her away from Denki, but she merely turned her eyes and glared daggers at her, making her back away but not stop completely.

"Hey you two, what's it like having All Might teach you?" She shouted, trying to push a mic up Denki's nose.

"Is All Might the nicest guy ever?" Shouted another.

Denki was trying his best to shove through without hurting anyone or getting aggressive, but Mika's patience was wearing thin and she could feel the scowl in her face deepen every time someone new tried to shove a mic in her face. There was one point where she felt a particular short man try and shove a mic up into her armpit. _Right, fuck this._

Mika immediately began hissing as she yanked on Denki's arm, pulling him away from a persistent brunette. Mika let her quirk activate enough to turn her eyes black and then people started parting like the red sea before her. Once out the other side she released and let out a breath of black smoke.

"Well that was intense" Denki chuckled nervously.

"I hate crowds…" She muttered as she shot a glare over her shoulder. Spotting a few more students escaping before Aizawa-sensei pushed through with a furious look on his face. "Look Aizawa-sensei is here, we need to run!"

Denki nodded and they both rushed ahead of their teacher to make sure they were in the class before he arrived. Neither of them wanted to have to stay behind after class for being late. Mika liked Aizawa-sensei, he had this kind of no-nonsense attitude that she could get right behind. He didn't mince his words; she just had a lot of respect for people like that. Although he was the complete opposite of her Oniichan, but she loved him no matter what he was like.

Mika and Denki rushed into the classroom to find everyone else already in and hanging around their desks. At their arrival everyone shouted their hellos and Denki and Mika were soon stood around Eijiro's seat chatting away about their weekends. Mika didn't have much to report back to them on, apart from her training and both the lads seemed pretty interested in that. She listened back in turn when they talked about going shopping or going swimming and all sorts.

"Hey, maybe we should swap numbers, so this weekend potentially meet up?" Eijiro suggested fishing out his phone and looking to both Denki and Mika expectantly.

"Yeah sure" She found herself agreeing, the look of indifference lifting a little from her usual stony face. She dug around in her blazer pocket and pulled out her phone, Denki doing the same. They had just finished swapping numbers when Aizawa-sensei strolled in, his face tight with annoyance. Mika immediately jumped into her seat, shoving her phone away again.

"Good work with the battle training last week, I've finished looking over your grades and evaluations… Bakugo!" His tired and red rimmed eyes flew to the blond hot head. "…Grow up already, stop wasting your talent!"

"Got it" Bakugo relented and Mika looked up from where she was doodling cats in the corner of her sparkly note pad. _Well that wasn't the reaction I was expecting. Did he cool off over the weekend or something?_

"… and it seems that Midoriya ended yet another day with a broken arm…" Aizawa-Sensei cut, his voice getting a little harsher and Mika couldn't help but let her eyes wander to Izuku next to her. Who was looking rather pale as he stared embarrassed down at his desk. "… learn to control your quirk… because just trying isn't going to cut it! I hate repeating myself, but you do have potential, assuming you can overcome this"

"Okay!" Izuku agreed with a lot more determination on his face and in his voice.

Everyone looked to Bakugo and Midoriya hoping that this would be the last of their epic battles and that they, Bakugo, had gotten it all out of their system. It was amazing to see such strength being showcased within their class, but not at the result of injuries to classmates, that wasn't what being a Hero was about.

"Now on to more homeroom business, sorry for the sudden announcement but today…" He paused, looking over everyone as if trying to make them feel nervous. He loomed forward a little before continuing. "You'll pick a class president!"

"SUCH A NORMAL SCHOOL LIKE THING!" Everyone shouted in relief and shock.

Mika felt herself relax a little, but she would be lying if she said she wasn't slightly more bummed that it wasn't another fun out the ordinary lesson. The class around her erupted as almost everyone launched out of their seats with their hands waving around. _Oh bloody hell, will the noise ever end… first at the school gate and now here…_

"Fresh hell…" She muttered to herself and she heard Tokoyami behind her snort at her words.

"I wanna be president, let me do it!"

"The position was made for me!"

"I wanna be leader" Everyone shouted, and Mika had half a mind to put her head on the table and cover her ears, but that was when she heard the purple perv speak up.

"In my administration girls have to show 30 cm of thigh" He squealed excitedly. Mika turned around slowly in her chair to face him with a look that promised a long and torturous death, a black mist appearing around her.

"I would rethink your proposal… Mineta" She spoke in a fake cheery voice that made her come across far too demonic for his liking and he immediately sunk back into his chair shaking a little.

"So manly" Eijiro laughed at her from her right.

"Shut up, he's a perv!" She threw her hands up with a sly grin as she span back round.

Mika felt like she really should care, but she couldn't find it in her. Being the class rep was something very mundane in normal schools, yet at U.A it would mean leading a class full of future heroes and that was a skill and mindset that most agencies were looking for. _There's no way I could do it, I'm far too dark._

"QUIET DOWN EVERYONE!" Iida shouted, making everyone pause to look to him. "Leading the many is a task of heavy responsibility… but ambition does not equate to ability!"

Everyone slowly got back in their seats as Iida stood up to speak over them all. The scary driven glint in his glasses scaring everyone a little. It was very 'Mika' of him, and Mika was just watching with bored eyes with her head in her hand, elbow propped up on her desk, black curls falling over her shoulder.

"This sacred office demands the trust of its constituents… if this is to be a democracy, then I put forward the notion that our true leader must be chosen by election!" He finished with his hand raised firmly in the air.

"Ugh, this is a classroom not a congress" Mika sighed as she let her head fall on the table. _You need to chill the hell down, you're far too plus ultra for my liking today._

"But Iida, we haven't known each other long enough to build any trust" Tsuyu stated, with a little ribbit at the end.

"Everyone will just vote for themselves" Eijiro moaned.

"That's precisely why anyone who manages to earn multiple votes will be the best suited individual for the job!" Iida insisted, he then turned to Aizawa-Sensei just as the teacher was disappearing into this yellow sleeping bag. "Will you allow this sensei?"

"Whatever… just make it quick" He sighed.

Iida then went about telling everyone to write down who they voted for on a tiny slip of paper before placing it on the table at the front of the class. Everyone set to writing their vote down and Mika thought about it for a while, casting her eyes around the class before her eyes settled on Bakugo. _Heh, that would be funny if he ended up the class rep, he would be a nightmare, but it would definitely be funny to watch. I suppose he is super driven too, even if it does show in horrid ways sometimes…. Ohh who else to choose._

In the end Iida rushed the last few people on and she quickly jotted down a classmates name and shuffled up to the front to drop it on the table. Once everyone was done, they all had to wait for Iida to go through and count out the votes and he was basically crying by the end of it. Turns out he didn't get any votes but Midoriya won by gaining three points and Yaoyorozu came second with 2 points. Everyone else had pretty much voted for themselves which meant that whoever she voted for, voted for her back. She turned in her seat to look at Tokoyami and he was eyeing her with the same amused expression.

"Did we just vote for each other?" She asked.

"I thought it would be amusing to see you trying to lead a class…" He admitted.

"Thanks, Tokoyami-kun…" She rolled her eyes. "You're making me blush!"

"What!" Bakugo cursed. "Who the hell voted for Deku?"

"Well, guess we know it wasn't you" Sero laughed.

The class all clapped politely as an extremely nervous looking Midoriya and a cool as a cucumber Yaoyorozu stepped up to the front of the class to be introduced as the new class rep and vice rep. It was an incredibly good match and she was confident that Midoriya, even though he came across as nervous, would be able to lead the class in the right direction and from what Mika knew about Yaoyorozu she would be able to make sure everything ran smoothly and all. _Well that could have been a hell of a lot worse, I suppose._


	9. Chapter 9 - Alarm Bells

Chapter 9 – Alarm Bells

"Well that went well" Eijiro stated as he sat down at a lunch table, Denki plopping down beside him. Mika sat across from him and with a 'tch', Bakugo sat down beside her. All four of them had a habit of sticking together for lunch now, as they had done since the first day.

Mika was enjoying becoming friends with Eijiro and Denki, they were a really good laugh and she could feel her walls coming down a little. Only her first few anyway, she felt like she could joke around with them now. Bakugo however was taking a little more time to warm up to, and this was mainly because she was certain that she pissed him off with how bored and cutting she always tended to be towards him. What he didn't realise though was that if he was to show her a little more than just curses and come backs then he would receive more than a bored look and a sharp tongue from her. _Come on Bakugo, give me something to work with._

"Yeah well…" She started flashing a wink at the lads before her before putting on a self-satisfied grin. "… I'm glad I voted for Izuku-kun"

She could feel the blond beside her start to shake and grumble. She even spotted a slight pop and crackle about his hands. _Too easy._

"Why the fuck would you do that, curly?" He shouted at her, grabbing her necktie. He pulled her round to face him and Denki and Eijiro's protesting gained the attention of a few other tables. Mika kept her face completely impassive, however.

"I can't help it, It's because I find him really physically attractive" She deadpanned making all three lads around her choke on either their food or just the air they were breathing in at the time, her neck tie fell from Bakugo's fist. Even though she was saying it to wind him up, she couldn't help but feel her cheeks heat up a little. "Nah, just kidding… I voted for Tokoyami and he ended up voting for me so, we cancelled each other out"

"The fuck… you just love winding me up huh?" Bakugo bit back at her as Denki and Eijiro both gave each other a withering look at their new friend's antics.

"Yup… that angry face looks dead cute on you" She teased, tilting her head to one side and smirking, but still managing to keep her eyes bored because she knew it would make him even more ticked off.

"Piss off curly!" He growled back at her.

"Anyway… how about we go shopping at the weekend guys?" Denki cut in, trying to steer the conversation away from the two before him.

"Yeah, we could meet up at the brand-new complex that opened up a few weeks ago, I've heard its massive" Eijiro nodded, enthusiastically looking between them all. "Would be cool to hang out outside of school"

"I would like that" Mika found herself saying with a tiny tiny smile. Denki and Eijiro both blushed at her while Bakugo merely huffed.

"Yeah whatever" He sighed.

It was in that moment that an ear-splitting alarm sounded making the whole cafeteria jump in alarm. Mika who had literally just put a mouthful of yakisoba into her mouth, choked and Bakugo had to slap her back hard to make her stop. She looked at him and nodded and he merely nodded back before she stood up nervously.

"What's going on?"

"SECURITY LEVEL THREE BREACH… ALL STUDENTS PLEASE EVACUATE IN AN ORDERLY FASHION!" Came an automated voice over the com systems so loud that it even drowned out the sound of the wailing alarm.

"Come on, we've gotta go" Eijiro shouted as he leapt up from his seat pulling Denki with him. Mika and Bakugo were right behind them as they made their way to the where the exit was. Only that was what every single other student in the school was doing too and before long they were all being completely crushed by the weight of everyone trying to crash towards the exit. Mika felt her heart drop out her arse when she realised that she had just walked herself into her worst nightmare and she paled enough to make her look green. She immediately grabbed out at Bakugo, who was the closest person she knew and fisted his blazer into her hand.

"Get off, curly!" He shouted back at her, crimson eyes scowling over his shoulder.

"Please… I'm going to get fucking punchy if I don't get out of this…" She stuttered and the look on her face and the sound of her voice was so far from her usual indifference that he felt his mouth fall open. Finally, he thought, a real pure emotion from her.

"Fine, but hold on!" He shouted back to her as he turned to try and find a way out.

There was a reason she absolutely hated crowds, and that was because she hated not having an exit. There was nothing worse to Mika than being in a situation that she didn't have an out of. Of course, there was always the option of activating her quirk and slamming everyone out of her way, but that would hurt innocent people and that was exactly the opposite of what she wanted to do with her quirk. There was nothing she could do without hurting others about being stuck in a tight crowd like that, and the fear and frustration was something she hated beyond belief. She knew what being caged in with now out felt like and she had promised herself that she would never get herself in situations like that again, but here she was, and she could feel her anxiety rising.

It was absolute chaos as there was nowhere to move and every time there was a shove from the back, everyone became more desperate and more compact together. Mika tried her best to stay upright, but before long she could feel people treading on her heels. One good kick from someone behind her into the back of her knee had her leg giving out and her falling down between two students, Bakugo's blazer was ripped from her hand and she winced as she was shoved to the floor. Her eyes widened as she came face to face with everyone legs as they were kicking around trying to find purchase. _Holy crap, I can't take much more of this…_

Her thoughts were rudely interrupted when she received a swift knee to the face, making her nose erupt in pain and she felt her nose starting to run, head thrumming. She could feel her palms tingling as she instinctively started drawing in the shadows. Shaking her head she fisted her hands. There was no way she was going to let herself get panicky and punch out hurting her fellow students. At the sudden impact she gave up trying to stay on her knees and she collapsed down on her side, bringing her arms up around her head and her legs tucking into a ball.

"OI CURLY!" Bakugo yelled over the thrum of screams and chaos as he shoved someone out the way and yanked her back up to her feet.

"Mika?" She heard Eijiro shout, and then Denki joined in. _Over here you two idiots…_

She flicked her eyes up to Bakugou who was scowling ahead again. Before she could get her words of thanks out, she could hear what sounded like an engine soaring overhead and people were shouting out and calling for something, everyone was so loud she couldn't make anything out. All she could concentrate on was the shoving and she steady trickle of what must have been blood pouring from her nose.

"EVERYONE… EVERYTHINGS FINE HERE… IT'S JUST THE PRESS!" Came a bellowing voice a lot like Iida's. She could hear him trying to explain that everything was ok, but she was just incredibly grateful, for everyone seemed to stop shoving around her as much. Everyone became much slower and before long they were dispersing.

Mika tried to catch her breath and tilted her head back to stop the bleeding but found Denki and Eijiro appearing beside her. Their worried faces getting right up in her own.

"Hey, are you ok?" Denki asked as he dug around in his pocket for a tissue for her blood streaming nose.

"Come on, tilting your head back isn't the right thing to do, use this tissue" Eijiro was just holding a tissue out to her and she moved to take it with a thankful nod, but someone bumped into her back and made her wince.

"HEY!" She heard Bakugo bark. "Watch where you're going, Idiot!" She looked behind her to see Bakugo shoving the boy who had knocked her away, before scowling at his retreating back.

"Well that was fun" She groaned as Eijiro helped wipe at her nose. "I'm fine, thanks though" She tried to shake them off, her bored persona slipping back into place like nothing had happened.

"You look like hell …" Denki worried. _Its fine, it'll stop bleeding soon, no big deal._

"Oi, curly" She turned and looked at Bakugo. He had got away with nothing more than a bruise forming on the side of his cheek where he must had got headbutted or elbowed or something. He looked her up and down, crimson eyes settling for too long at the blood trickling down from her nose. "Go to recovery girl!"

"Nah, I'm fine" She grumbled as she reached down and pulled her socks back up. She looked like a right mess, and her brushing away the dirt from her uniform wasn't helping all that much. Now that the fear and frustration of being trapped in a crowd was dissipating, she could feel the embarrassment building within her. She had been so weak, she couldn't even save herself from a crowd of students, how on earth was she supposed to save people from villains. _I can't believe I was that pathetic, what a joke._

"Are you sure?" Eijiro asked.

"Just leave it alright… I'm going to be a kick ass Hero, I can handle it" She bit back at them with her eyes flashing. She turned her face away as it threatened to go beat red, running a hand through her wild curls to try and make it look like she hadn't just been completely trampled on by half the student body. The more and more they looked at her like she was an injured little bird, the more it pissed her off and, in the end, she turned her back to them with a 'Tch' and stormed off.

 _I'm not weak, I don't need you to look down at me like that…_

She stomped all the way to recovery girl's infirmary, the whole while berating herself for her stupid fear of crowds and telling herself off for being so pathetic. If she had been a better person, or maybe stronger she could have gotten herself out of that mess without hurting anyone, but she still had so much to learn. Once she made it to the Infirmary door, she paused with her hand on the door knob. _Calm down…_

After a deep breath and a shake of her head she opened the door and shuffled inside. Recovery Girl's Infirmary was nothing special, with the usual plain beds with crisp white sheets. The windows were all opened with the blinds drawn to the sun poured in. There was a small desk in the centre between a few beds that was covered in folders and binders. Probably rammed with student information that she kept to make sure she was always on top of everything.

Recovery Girl herself was sat at the desk clicking about on her computer. At Mika's entrance she twisted in her seat and offered a wide smile once she spotted who it was.

"I was hoping I would get to see you again" She croaked. She really did sound old. T _hat really is an actual syringe in her hair? What the…_

"Oh… uhm Hello again" Mika stuttered, taken a little aback at how Recovery Girl seemed to want to see her again.

"I can't get over it, you look just like your Brother… come on in then" She smiled, jumping down from her chair and tottering over to Mika.

"I just wanted to come for a little help" Mika tried to explain further by pointing to her bloodied nose.

"Heal that busted nose of yours, ey?" She stated more than asked, raising a brow at Mika.

"Ugh yeah"

"No need to be nervous sweetie, I've read your quirk files… want to try and stem it before I heal it up?" She offered, wandering back over towards one of the beds, waving a wrinkly old hand over her shoulder at her. Mika's green eyes followed her with her mouth ajar.

"Yes please, if you don't mind?" Mika blushed. It was obvious that the teachers would know about her healing like aspect of her quirk, she had to claim both aspects of her quirk when applying, plus they were set down in detail in the Quirk Registry.

Mika followed Recovery Girl over the bed farthest from the door on the right and watched with her hands behind her back as the older woman started pulling the curtains around the bed to create some privacy. Although the older woman made no move of leaving and instead just stood holding the two curtain sides shut behind her with a wide smile on her papery face. Mika just looked on awkwardly at her for a few minutes before started to shuffle on her feet.

"Are you going to watch?" Mika asked, struggling to hide the edge to her voice. She didn't want to be disrespectful to this pro hero, but she couldn't help but let her indifference creep back on her as a comfort blanket.

"Will it put you off?" She asked sweetly, but Mika could tell the old women knew she was making her uncomfortable.

"Well, yea a little bit" Mika shrugged, shoving her hands in her blazer pockets.

"It's not every day you get to see a healing like quirk in action, can't blame an old woman, huh?" She crowed.

"No, I suppose not…" Mika sighed and set to sitting down on the bed and then leaning over to pull her socks down so she could get a better look at the bruises she had received from when she had fallen down, a few students had managed to stamp on her legs and she could tell if left, they could form purple bruises. They weren't that bad, but it was obvious that she had gone down in the stampede and got trampled on. "Can you fix those too, I am no good with bruises, just bleeding and cuts really?"

"Of course, dear, stop that bleeding nose first though ok?" She smiled even wider to Mika.

She cast one last look to the old woman by the curtains and narrowed her eyes a little. She let her right hand reach out before her and open up, palm facing the floor. She closed her eyes and reached out with her quirk to the shadows under the bed she was sat on. She could feel the shadows pulsing and reaching out to her as she consumed them.

Recovery Girl watched with trained eyes as the girl before her leeched the shadows from under the bed, up into her hand and into her body. They flowed like slow moving water up into her fingertips and the sight of it was fascinating and creepy all at the same time. Recovery Girl had seen healing quirks a plenty in her life, with almost every healing quirk owner coming to her for training at one point or another, but she had never seen a quirk like this girl's, and it fascinated her.

Then Mika snapped her hand into a fist, and she shadows sunk back under the bed. She concentrated hard and opened her eyes up, black and dead looking, as she looked down to where the bruises were. In her mind she pushed all the energy to her nose, and she sucked in a deep breath as it started to fizz, giving off black smoke as it started to stem the bleeding. No matter how it was done, fixing noses was the worst, no matter how hard you tried there was no way anyone wouldn't let out at least on tear when they hurt their nose. As the throbbing and bleeding slowed, she winced and felt one solitary tear slide down her cheek. Then she was done and ready for Recovery Girl to give it a go.

She exhaled the extra dark energy and blinked the blackness in her eyes away.

"That won't last too much longer, please can you help now?" Mika asked reluctantly. Then with a crinkly smile, and just like she had done the other day with Izuku's burn, Recovery Girl shuffled over and placed a rather gross smooch on Mika's cheek. Immediately she felt her nose click back into place and the throbbing completely melt away. She sighed in relief as she felt the bruises on her legs dissipate as well.

"Thank you so much!" Mika bowed before Recovery Girl.

"Amazing, that's some fancy quirk you got there!" Recovery Girl beamed at her. "It is similar to mine in a way, but where mine saps energy, yours does not?"

"No, see… I consume dark energy and store it up to either aid me in strength for fighting or speed… but then the same goes for stitching up a cut or holding off an illness." Mika explained as she leant back over to pull her socks up again. She stood and moved to follow Recovery Girl back through the curtain. "I can convert the shadows I consume into energy to almost stabilise myself so I can get to a hospital… or you…"

"Fascinating, and I presume it's just limited to yourself?" She asked, her tired but warm eyes twinkling at her.

"I can heal others, but… its more taxing" Mika sighed as she tucked her hands behind her back, green eyes looking away from Recovery Girl as she explained. "So, I place my hand on the affected area and I have to really concentrate on pushing the dark energy through and into the injury… I heal it that way, but in order to do so, I take on the injury or illness"

A memory flashed in her mind, a since long forgotten memory that she had buried a long long time ago. She had first learnt of her healing in secret, away from the prying eyes of her Father. Whenever Nani-chan came to deliver food to or sit with Mika she would always be hurt. It broke Mika's heart and she hated to see her treasured Nani with pain across her face. Something about seeing the only person that cared about her in pain drew it out of her.

Mika was about to ask Recovery Girl more about how her own healing quirk worked when the door to the infirmary opened and two heads poked in. Mika immediately felt her hands turn to fists and she had to remind herself to take a breath and calm down. Denki and Eijiro spotted her through a gap in the curtain and waved as they made their way further into the infirmary.

"You feeling better now?" Denki asked, he was smiling at her, but she could tell that he was nervous to piss her off again. The look on his face made Mika feel really super bad about snapping at them and she sighed as she ran a hand through her messy curls. _Ahhh shit, I'm so not good at all this being sociable crap yet… all you need to do is apologise Mika, now grow a pair already._

"Sorry I snapped at you guys…" She muttered as she pouted at the floor, suddenly really interested in staring at the green ribbon laces of her shoes. Both boys looked surprised and then broke into massive grins.

"Its fine, we were worried is all…" Eijiro sighed good naturedly.

"Yeah, we know you're kick ass Mika-chan, don't worry" Denki added flashing her thumbs up to which she couldn't help but smile back at, a genuine one too.


	10. Chapter 10 - Sakura Mochi

**Chapter 10 – Sakura Mochi**

Once everyone arrived back to the classroom, Mika all but being dragged behind Denki and Eijiro as they rushed to beat Aizawa-Sensei, Midoriya had asked to address the class as Class President.

He had looked completely green with nerves and his body was shaking as he looked out at everyone in the classroom. Mika felt sorry for him, getting that nervous at public speaking was something she could understand, but if he was going to be the Class President, he needed to get over it. She watched patiently as he grit his teeth, Yaoyorozu nudged him from her place beside him and ushered him to get speaking.

"Go ahead, Class President" She urged.

"W-We'd like to choose the student council members!... but before that… this is important" He got clearer and more confident with every word he spoke and in the end his shoulders eased off a little and his usual smiling face started to shine through and Mika couldn't help but admire how cute he was once more. _Adorable._ "I believe that Iida is better suited to be Class President… you all saw how well he led everyone in that crisis, I think he's the correct choice for the job!"

"It was Iida that got everyone to calm down then?" Mika turned and asked Eijiro and he nodded to her with a bright grin. _Huh, he does always like to take charge, I suppose it's a good fit after all…_ After she had gone down in the crowd she knew that someone had flown over head and she had thought at the time that it sounded like Iida, but she had more important things to be worrying about than that at the time.

"Sounds good, Iida really showed his stuff back in the cafeteria, not that I have anything against Midoriya" Eijiro turned and shouted against everyone else's chatter.

"He was like a beacon pointing to the emergency exit!" Denki joined in, leaning back to smirk at Eijiro from his seat in front of the red head. Mika watched them both and held back a giggle at their over excited chatter. They always seemed to be super into everything that was happening, and they never ever seemed to lose their smiles. _I wonder if I could ever be like that… one day maybe._

There was a rustling from the front of the class, and everyone eyed their teacher as he sat up still cocooned in his yellow worn out sleeping bag. His head emerged with a juice carton hanging from his mouth, a hard glare was sent to each and every one making them flinch a little and quieten down. Iida however took the chance to stand up and shoot his hand into the air, the other tucked behind his back.

"I will accept the job then!" He announced, and everyone started clapping him. The whole class joined in and were laughing and joking about him being the walking talking living and breathing personification of the emergency exit sign.

"You can do It Mr. Exit sign"

"Exit-sign Iida, do your best!"

Everyone congratulated Iida who was now sporting a terrifyingly intense face that promised his utmost attention to detail in his new job role. Mika couldn't help but let a small smile settle over her features as the class swelled with camaraderie and it warmed her heart a little. She had never ever experienced a class like this one before, where everyone was so pumped to be there and so driven to be there that they got on. She had remembered sitting in the back of her Middle school, not uttering a word to anyone and in return was completely ignored. It wasn't as if she was the most approachable person in the world, with her sharp looks and her bored eyes. Yet here, her classmates, especially Eijiro, Denki and Midoriya had overlooked her bored expression and her general vibe of disinterest and talked to her, asked her opinion, included her. It made her heart feel like it was overflowing. Of course, she had known love from her Brother, and from Nani, but to feel a part of a class like this was brilliant. _I'm so bloody lucky._

BREAK

It was as she was chatting to Midoriya at their desks before the English class began when her Oniichan had shuffled into the class late and handed her a note before calling for quiet so that he could begin. She had opened it up and read it over, a frown coming over her features as she did.

It read: **Going to have to stay late tonight to sort out the mess with the media earlier, you will have to make your own way home… why not walk with your new friends, would be cool, YEAH!**

Mika sighed, for even in his written notes, he still sounded like he was holding a radio show. She looked up to her Brother as he started writing down English pronouns on the black board, the chalk scratching as he did so. She had no idea if anyone in the class even walked the same way as her. She needed to go to the local station, and she was certain a few of them would be heading the same way, but they had probably all started walking in their own little groups. Mika sighed and placed the note on the table as she rested her elbow on her desk and slumped her head into her hand, bored eyes watching the board a head of her.

 _All you need to do is ask them, maybe a few of the girls will be going the same way… would be nice to become closer with them._

Once the class was over and her Brother had hurried off out the room, everyone sighed and started stretching in their seats, ready to pack up and head home for the day. Mika set to shoving her glittery notebook and sparkly pencil case into her worn leather bag when her hand paused on the note. She was completely unaware that Midoriya was eying her and the note that she had started to glare at. His puzzled features softened a little when he realised that she was nervous, and he understood completely.

"Hey, Mika-chan?" He reached out and tapped her shoulder, pulling her eyes away from the note and up to his own. "Which way do you walk home?"

"Oh… uhm, I'm heading out towards the station because I live in Ota" She stated, watching as his smile widened.

"Nice, you can walk with us… we should all be getting on the same train, but your stop is way before ours" He insisted as she started waving Iida and Ochako over from their desks across the room.

"Hey Deku, what's up?" Ochako asked as she came to a stop beside Mika's desk.

"Mika-chan is going to walk with us today" He explained.

"Oh really!" She beamed down at Mika, making Mika blush a little. _Why are these two so adorable?_

"It would be lovely to have the opportunity to get to know you better, Mika-chan" Iida stated, chopping his hands in the air.

And that was how she found herself wandering hand in hand with Ochako with Iida on one side of them, and Midoriya on the other. She had said her goodbyes to Eijiro and Denki as they left the school gates and that had been that. She had never been surrounded by such chatter boxes in her whole life, she thought Denki was bad, but Ochako and Midoriya literally did not stop all the way. It was just general chit chat too, that Iida had some input in when he felt the need, but Mika realised that he was just content walking along listening to them both. Mika had been a little shell shocked to begin with. Yes, she absolutely adored cute things, but when she was stuck sandwiched between the two cutest students in her class, she couldn't help the blush rise up on her cheeks and the urge to grab them into a massive hug was trying to suffocate her. _Don't be weird, don't be weird…_

"Mochi is the best though…" Uraraka all but squealed, bouncing on her feet a little. "Ne ne… Mika-chan, what do you think?"

"Noooo Wagashi is so much better!" Izuku moaned, because he knew that he wasn't going to win this argument at all.

"I love Sakura Mochi" Mika announced, wanting to join in, but not really knowing how to. Iida chuckled at Izuku's defeated slump as Ochako started to pull Mika around in a circle chanting 'Sakura Mochi, Sakura Mochi'.

"I can make you some… if you'd like?" Mika blurted as Ochako slowed down her twirling, at the outburst she looked with wide bright eyes at the normally bored looking Mika. Mika didn't look bored in that moment though, with her eyes glittering a little, and her cheeks going a soft pink.

"YEAH" Ochako then burst into an excited shout. The short haired girl flashed Mika the biggest most adorable grin and something in Mika snapped.

"You are literally the most adorable person I have ever met" She deadpanned, her eyes not once leaving Ochako's as she dropped her opinion. The boys paused in their walking to gape at their classmates announcement, Ochako too looking shocked. Mika immediately slapped her hands over her face as she felt heat rise up to her cheeks. _Nice one Mika… your first chance at making more new friends and you go and be super weird…_

"Huh?" Iida choked.

"Adorable?" Ochako blushed bright pink.

"She thinks so too?" Midoriya gasped.

"Of course, I think she's cute… I think you're cute too Izuku-kun" Mika added, feeling like she might as well just say how she feels seen as she had already made a scene. She couldn't help but feel her cheeks heat up and turn a deeper shade of red as she nervously looked to Izuku as he gaped at her like a fish out of water.

"EHHH?" He squeaked.

"Ohhh I agree, I agree" Ochako joined in then, grabbing Mika's hand back up and pulling her to walk ahead. Leaving Iida and Izuku bumbling along behind them.

"Did cold and indifferent Mika-chan just call you cute?" Iida gasped, his hands chopping wildly in front of the dazed Midoriya.

"I can feel the world spinning, tell it to stop… I want to get off" Midoriya swayed a little on his feet as the compliment went straight to his head making him come across a little punch drunk. He shook his head and both lads watched as Ochako led Mika off down the road ahead of them, both locked into an intense conversation then. Midoriya had never seen Mika talk like that, and it was refreshing to see her opening up once more. He got the feeling that she couldn't open up on her own, but if people gave her a chance, she was more than willing to let her walls down a little. Ochako being the genuine girl that she was, had allowed that to happen and the thought of it warmed Midoriya up a little. He couldn't help but worry about all his classmates and it was nice to see Mika making another friend.

Ochako had launched into a conversation about all the things that she thought were cute, and Mika got heavily involved. They seemed to agree on most things, cats, dogs, Izuku and etc. It was times like this when Mika seemed to dissolve and the worries and hang ups from her past seemed to fade into the background. When she really set her mind to it, she could be normal too. Herself and Ochako chatted like new budding friends the whole way to the train station with Midoriya and Iida tailing them.

 _So this is what it feels like, I thought I was right when I felt with whilst hanging out with Denki and Eijiro, but I can feel it now too… camaraderie. I could get used to this for sure!_

Mika felt her bored eyes soften the longer she chatted with Ochako and the tenseness left her shoulders. She ran a hand through her wild curls, brushing them out of her face as she smiled warmly at her new friend. Ochako and Mika were around the same height, and that was pretty short. Neither of them could be classed as tall at all, with most of their classmates towering above them, therefore they comfortably strode along with each other, almost in sync. There was something about the way that Ochako didn't have a hint of judgment or prejudice in anything she said, the way her eyes were bright and wide like the purest creature in the world that made Mika want to break out of the front that she normally put up. Yet for now, she just settled for smiling a bit more than she was used to and chatting a little more than she had been.

' _No one is ever going to understand you… not like me, you're mine'_

 _No, see… that isn't true Father, there are people out there that will understand me… I just have to give them a chance!_


	11. Chapter 11 - I'm Sorry

Chapter 11 – I'm Sorry

*6 Years Ago*

Blank green eyes stared unfocused at the wall before her as Mika rested her head on her knees, arms wrapped around her legs. She had been like this for hours and she had no intention of moving either. Her whole body was tired, her mind was tired, everything was just too tiring. She had been dressed into another extravagant traditional kimono, with a suffocating Obi so tight around her tummy she hadn't been able to eat any of the breakfast she had been given. The untouched tray sat beside the crack of her bedroom door.

Her bedroom was almost a perfect square and held the most basic of amenities. The floor held a plain mat, that had not aged well at all. Much like the walls and the curtains, everything had faded from sunlight and through years and years of Mika not being able to decorate, or move anything or ask for any new furniture. Her room was apart of the main house, right in the eaves, and got very very hot with the heat of the rest of the building seeping up from below. She had been in that room since she was born, and had gotten used to it by now, used to the discomfort.

There was a futon folded neatly in the back-left corner and a plain low coffee table with pens and paper scattered across it. Yet Mika was sat with her back against the wall, her brain moving a million miles a second.

Her Father had always been a tough man, he had been strict with her all her life and she had never known affection from him. She had tried her best to appease him and make him proud, a childish part of her believing that if she was just better behaved, or cleverer, or stronger then he would soften and become more of the Father she had wanted, needed. Yet it never happened. Mika was always left feeling empty and disappointed every time he turned his back on her, her eyes used to staring at the back of his traditional clothes.

She huffed out a large sigh and rocked back so that she could stretch out her aching legs, yet before she had a chance to tuck them back up to her chest there was a loud thud. Her eyes darted to the crack underneath her door where she could see the light from the afternoon pouring in. Her eyes stayed unblinking as she let her ears soak in every sound she could. There was rough talking, curses and grunts that she recognised immediately as being from her Father. Then there was another thud and a whimper, then a door slammed once more.

Mika felt her heart leap into her throat as the sound of light footsteps then headed towards her room. She could hear the soft tap of shoes and the somewhat heavy breathing. Mika could feel fear creep up on her as a shadow appeared underneath the door, Mika tensed up and made to stand, yet when she door slid open and her eyes took in the person before her a massive smile broke out across her face.

"Nani-chan!" Mika all but whisper shouted as she slowly got up and shuffled over to wrap her arms around her Nanny.

"Careful, careful…" Nanami winced, but couldn't help the small smile that pulled at her lips for seeing her.

Nanami had been there for Mika for as long as Mika could remember. She was the only constant happiness in her life and Mika loved her with everything she had. The gentle brown-haired woman had been hired a year after Mika had been born and she had been tasked with bringing Mika up till her Quirk materialised, then she was kept on as a general maid to look after Mika. Nanami had been everything to Mika that her own Mother should have been, but that didn't bother Mika. She smiled brightly as she felt Nanami wrap her own arms around her shoulders and was about to squeeze tighter when she realised something.

Nanami was shaking like a leaf.

"Nani-chan?" Mika asked, pulling out of the hug, taking a step back.

What she saw made her eyes immediately tear up. What Mika had missed when she had rushed across the room, was the state that her beloved Nani-chan was in.

Nanami now stood before her in the doorway with her hair falling out of the bun that it was normally kept in, her left eye a deep shade of green fading into purple. At the sight of her Nani-chans black eye all the colour drained from Mika's face, as she really didn't know what to do. Something inside her knew that it wouldn't have been an accident and there was a part of her that was scared to ask what had happened. Mika's young eyes then travelled over Nanami's outfit that was a little dishevelled like she had rushed to get ready. Her whole body was shaking, and it wasn't until Mika reached out and grabbed her hand that she took a breath.

"Nani-chan?" Mika whispered, trying to be as quiet as possible.

"Hello, my little lovely" Nanami said with a suddenly strong voice, the sound of it contradicting with her shaking body. Yet she thought that If she could at least sound brave for her baby, then it would be ok in the end.

"What happened?" Mika asked and Nanami finally moved to slide the door shut again, turning from the door she took Mika's hand once more and led her to the coffee table. She sat herself down and tried to offer her warmest smile as Mika sat down beside her, opting to stay as close as possible.

"Oh nothing your Nani-chan can't handle…" She tried, ruffling her hand through Mika's long black curls. There was no way she could tell little Mika what had really happened. She couldn't tell her baby that she had asked the wrong question and received a swift closed fist to the face because of it. She couldn't let Mika know that it wasn't the first time Mika's Father had laid a hand on her. Nanami was starting to realise that there was too much at stake, for it wasn't just her life that they were making miserable, it was now her little baby, and it was Nanami's duty to look out for her little baby as best as she could, and at the moment, this was all she could think of.

Her throbbing eyes looked down at the little girl that she had been looking after and loving like she was her own. She soaked in how her eyes looked tired, with bags underneath them as if she hadn't had a good night's sleep in weeks. Nanami noticed how her obi had been tied so tight that Mika couldn't sit down in a comfortable position, and that her right hand was constantly scratching at her left wrist as if she was trying to dig her hand through it and out the other side. Yet even though Mika was suffering in her own way, she was sat there being worried over her. She wanted nothing more in that instant to run away, to bundle Mika into her arms and run as fast as she could, but how could she when she couldn't even walk from her room without him being there, watching and waiting.

"But…" Mika pouted a little.

"How have you been Mika, you haven't eaten any of your breakfast?" Nanami changed the subject and Mika couldn't help but go along with it.

BREAK

"Mika-chan…"

"Ne ne, Mika?"

"Yamada-san, are you ok?"

Mika was pulled from her daydream by a hand clamping down on her shoulder. Her eyes flew open wide and she flinched away from the hand, whilst bringing up her own. Once she found her wits about her, she realised that Iida was the one that had placed his hand on her shoulder. She looked to her right where he was sat next to her on the train. Midoriya and Ochako were peering over the back of the seats in front at her. She winced and felt a blush creep up her face. They had obviously been talking to her and she had completely drifted off and missed all of it. _Nice one Mika._

"What were you saying?" She asked, hoping that would be enough.

"Are you ok, Mika-chan?" Izuku asked, his clearly concerned eyes watching her closely. _Do those eyes see right through me or is it my imagination?_ She thought.

They had managed to find each other on the train, which was a miracle in itself seen as it was so busy. It did help however that they had swapped phone numbers the train ride home from school the previous evening so that they could message each other to find each other on the train to school. They had pinged a few messages to each other and before long, and one by one, had found each other and sat down. Mika was the last to get on the train and so therefore found them easily for they were waving to her through the window as she waited on the platform for the doors to open.

It had warmed her heart a little and she knew that her Oniichan had been over the moon when she said that she would be going on ahead and getting the train without him so that she could meet up with Ochako and the boys.

"We were just saying that we have Hero Basic Training today, but with Aizawa-Sensei, do you reckon he will threaten to expel anyone this time?" Ochako smiled to her and tilted her head. _Adorable._

"Oh, nah… I wouldn't believe him even if he did though" Mika contemplated. "Was pretty shifty of him to lie like that, but he must realise that none of us will trust anything like that again?"

"That is so true, Yamada-san" Iida agreed, chopping his hand against his knee.

"Really, you can call me Mika-chan all the time" She flashed her bored eyes at him, them softening just a little. Iida-kun had a knack of slipping back into calling her Yamada-san and she didn't really like it.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course, I don't like being formal… makes me feel like an outsider" She shrugged, and her eyes drifted to the window. All three of the companions looked to her at her small admission into why she was the way she was.

The rest of the journey went by with them theorising about what kind of stuff they will be getting into in their Basic Hero Training. Each one of them was beyond excited, but it was when Izuku's phone started going off in his pocket, something about getting notifications whenever All Might was spotted by the media did they really start getting excited. They followed Izuku's updates on the crimes that All Might had been involved in stopping whilst going through what they would have done in that situation. Mika found it was quite enjoyable getting swept along by the three's lively vibes, and she soon found herself smiling along with them.

Once off the train the four of them made their way out the station and off through the streets up towards U.A. All the while Mika couldn't help but think back on her daydream, all be it nightmare. She felt the utter helplessness wash through her at the memory of not knowing how to help Nanami-chan. It didn't matter how many times Mika could heal Nanami-chan, she couldn't take away the mental wounds that opened up further every time Mika saw her. She was too young and too weak in her heart to be able to do anything. Her eyes glistened a little as she thought about her friends, because she was sure they were indeed her friends, Denki and Eijiro, Izuku, Uraraka and Iida. Even Bakugo, even though they would wind each other up and pretty much only communicate in insults and glares, she still would be pained to see him hurt.

She decided right then and there that she would do everything in her power to save these beautiful people. For it would break her if they were to get hurt and she could have done something about it, even if it puts her in danger, even if it kills her. She felt the strongest resolve bubble up in her chest and a soft smile broke out as Izuku turned and beamed at her, still laughing from something Iida had said.

 _I'll keep them all safe, and I'll do it for you Nanami-chan… I'm so sorry._


	12. Chapter 12 - Repulsive Journey

**Chapter 12 – Repulsive Journey**

Mika huffed as she dropped her tray down beside Eijiro and across from Denki and Bakugo. They had been in an intense mathematics class before lunch and everyone looked about ready to pound their heads into the desks. Mika had always struggled with Mathematics; it was like she just got a complete mental block with it all. If she was given homework it wasn't too bad, she could take it home and take all the time she needed to work things out, but in lessons when Ectoplasm-sensei singled her out to answer the equations on the board, she just froze and got all defensive.

"I can't believe you got a detention…" Eijiro guffawed at her for like the thousandth time.

"Yeah what the hell?" Denki joined in. "I've never seen you go so red before"

"Shut up" She moaned, dropping her head to the table, black curls falling around her head. Denki shoved them away from his tray with a smirk. It had been the single most embarrassing moment of her life. She might as well have been naked in front of the whole class; she would have preferred that. She had been called up to answer yet another equation, and when she got to the front she gave it a good go. She was taking her time, and the class were being patient behind her, most of them knew not to push her by now. She was struggling, and her brain had shut down, she could feel the stress building up and up inside her. _Why didn't you just give up and sit back down… why did you have to snap at Ectoplasm-sensei when he asked why you were taking so long… why are you like this Mika?_

"Why the hell did you tell Ectoplasm-sensei to go boil his head again?" Denki chuckled.

"Because I can't do math and he picks on me" She whined, sounding like a child.

"Grow up" Bakugo snipped around a mouthful of his curry, and she lifted her head enough to shoot him a death glare. He merely rolled his eyes in response.

"It wasn't that hard Mika-chan, do you need help with math?" Denki asked, feeling smug because it wasn't every day that he was better at their boring subjects than someone else. They all watched as she sat herself up further in her seat and started to poke around at her Yakisoba with her chopsticks. She was quite obviously pouting. Over the past few days they had seen a shift in Mika, she had gone from looking like she wanted to fall asleep of boredom every second of the day, to a little bit more awake and engaging. Yet they had noticed that if she wasn't around them, or Izuku then that indifferent look slipped back over her.

"I'll be ok, I can do it in my own time… I just hate the pressure" She shrugged.

"A wanna be hero who can't perform under pressure… tch" Bakugo clipped.

"Ohhhh, Eijiro-kun… Denki-kun, did you hear something?" She played, throwing a dramatic hand up to her ear and gazing around them. The two lads tried to hide their sniggers as they saw their explosive friend start to shake with fury.

"What?" Bakugo snapped, his hands balling into fists on the tabletop.

"There it was again… wow, so strange" She gushed, before fixing him with her trademark look of disgust before winking.

"Fuck off, curly"

"Whatever you say, Sunshine" She smirked. "You're too easy to wind up Bakugo"

"The hell I am" Was his biting reply, and she merely just raised her brows at him and took a bit of her lunch.

"You enjoy winding him up too much Mika-chan" Eijiro pointed to her.

"I'm sorry, I can't help myself" She sighed.

"Stupid Curly" Bakugo cursed under his breath.

BREAK

"Now for today's Basic Hero Training… All Might, I and one other will supervise." Aizawa-Sensei explained from the head of the class as everyone waited with bated breath as to what awesome activity they would be up against in training. Izuku was all but bouncing in his seat next to Mika.

"Uhm… What're we doing exactly?" Sero shouted out.

"Preparing you for disaster relief, from fires to floods… Its Rescue Training!" Aizawa-sensei announced. Mika fist pumped and let a determined grin fall over her features. She had been most excited about this aspect of the Hero Course. She remembered talking through it for hours with her Oniichan once she had decided that she did want to attend U.A. She had been training in combat almost her whole life, and she knew that she was pretty decent at it, therefore most of the combat training they were going to do would be just like practicing. Whereas Disaster relief and Rescue was something that had never ever been taught to her before. She had spent hours in front of the computer with Hizashi looking at footage of heroes saving people from rubble, floods, earthquakes and landslides. She couldn't believe it, and she had been hooked on the idea of learning how best to save people in dire circumstances. It was so different from combat training, and that was why she was so pumped.

"Rescue huh?" Denki looked back between Eijiro and Mika with a nervous kind of look. "… sounds like another rough day"

"Yeah, but that's why we are here…" Mika tilted her head at him with a confused look as to why he wasn't excited.

"Come on, this is what being a hero's all about! I'm pumped!" Eijiro eagerly exclaimed, bringing his fist up and activating his quirk to make it rock hard. Mika smirked and leaned over and knocked her own fist against his.

"This is going to be awesome" She buzzed, her bright green eyes wider and more enthusiastic than usual.

"It's up to each of you whether or not you wear your costumes. As some of them are ill-suited to this sort of activity" Aizawa-sensei carried on, over the top of every one's chatter. "The training site is a bit remote, so we'll be going by buss. That's all, get ready!"

All the girls practically flew down the hallways with their costume cases to the changing room. Mika was being pulled along by Uraraka who was busy theorising as to which disaster she would be best at. Turns out, she would actually be super helpful in all areas of disaster, and Mika could see the eagerness and determination building up in her new friends eyes as she realised this. They all got changed at a breakneck pace and once ready, they filtered out to the front of the U.A Campus. Mika had decided to wear all her costume and was therefore ready for action in her Black high waisted leggings and big chunky black boots with green laces. Her trench coat was billowing in the breeze a little over her emerald crop top. She had already given up with her long black curls and they were now piled on top of her head held in place by her emerald ribbon. It was a lot easier to concentrate with her mass of curls out of the way, but she knew before long loose curls would wiggle their way out of the bun and fall over her face, it was only a matter of time.

Uraraka basically dragged Mika out towards where the busses were, and she didn't protest too much. She let her lead her towards where Iida and Midoriya were waiting. Iida had donned his robotic outfit and even had his helmet on already, Izuku however was in the gym kit.

"You're wearing your gym clothes, Deku?" Uraraka asked, as she came to a stop beside him. Mika therefore being pulled to a stop too.

"Yeah, did you not want to wear your costume Izuku-kun?" Mika asked with a confused tilt of her head.

"It didn't make it through battle training in one peace so…" Izuku nervously stated, flashing Bakugo a worried glance. Mika stifled a snort when she saw Bakugo's shoulders tense at the mention of their previous battle, and therefore his previous defeat. "The schools support company are repairing it. Just got to wait for now"

"Fair enough, I hope they get it back to you soon" Mika smiled before excusing herself and striding over to stand beside Bakugo. She had noticed that his shoulders were still a little hunched, and Denki and Eijiro for some reason were chatting away with Jiro. Once she paused beside him, he shot her a confused, yet still aggravated look and she merely smiled and shrugged her shoulders at him.

"Fuck off curly" He sniped at her, his brows creasing further.

"Make me, Sunshine" She plastered on her fakest and largest smile and winked.

"Tch"

"Line up according to your I.D numbers. Fill those seats in an orderly fashion" Iida shouted out over everyone then, he had even started blowing on a whistle. Mika rolled her eyes at their class president and started to think about who that meant she would be sat with. She knew that she was the last person to be allocated a space in Class 1-A. It had been such a pain for her Brother to get her in, for at first they wanted to put her in Class 1-B, yet when she came in to U.A for a quirk and aptitude assessment, the decided that she would be better suited in the top class. Which therefore meant that she was the problem student, being the soul reason for the number of students in Class 1-A being odd. _So I was allocated the last I.D which means…_

"I do believe that means you are sat with me, Yamada-san" Came a cool voice from behind her and Bakugo. Both of them turned to see the extremely sour looking face of Todoroki. Immediately Bakugo bristled. Mika had never spoken to the kid before, and she hadn't really felt the need to. He sat at the back of class all quiet and observant, and then at lunch he usually went off to eat on his own. She knew for a fact that Bakugo hated him. Izuku had told her that Bakugo had expressed in an argument that he thought that he wouldn't be able to best Todoroki in a fight, and therefore that was the soul reason for that hatred.

"Ok, shall we line up then?" She said awkwardly. She felt her mask of indifference slide over her features. Her eyes losing their vividness as they faded into a bored cold version. Bakugo watched in silence as she shifted before him and he couldn't help but deepen his scowl at Todoroki.

Mika shuffled off behind Todoroki then, with one last nudge of her elbow into Bakugo's arm as she passed. She followed the half white-haired and half red-haired boy as everyone lined up and before long Aizawa-sensei was ordering them onto the bus.

The line started to filter onto the bus, and it was only when she stepped on did she see the flaw in Iida's plan. The first half of the bus was open plan with long seats against the windows facing each other, with another raised section at the back set out like a normal bus. Mika patted Iida's shoulder reassuringly as she passed him, as she could see the frustration and devastation on his face. She found it a little funny that he had gotten so worked up and serious to only be foiled by the bus seating arrangement.

Todoroki filtered in before her to the seat towards the back and she slumped into the seat beside him on the aisle. Sat in front of her were Bakugo and Jiro. Todoroki immediately shut his eyes and leant his head back and Mika just pinched her lips and set herself to staring ahead in silence. She felt a little nervous sat next to the kid she hadn't even spoken to yet. He was a little intimidating and she wandered if her cold and indifferent mask made her look like how he did to others. She shook her head and concentrated on the conversations as they picked up at the front of the bus.

"Darn… it was this type of bus!" Iida whined from the front as it pulled off and started rolling out the main gates.

"All that for nothing, huh?" Mina rubbed it in from next to him.

"I generally say what's on my mind Midoriya" Tsuyu suddenly cut across everyone as she regarded Izuku, who was sat next to her. Mika watched as Izuku looked flustered down at her. _Adorable._

"Oh? What is it, Asui?" He stammered.

"Call me Tsuyu" She offered, before continuing with her almost croaky voice. "Your quirk resembles All Might's"

Quite a few people's heads turned at that rather grand declaration and all eyes watched as Izuku spluttered for a long while, his eyes wide and his skin looking a lot paler than usual. Mika frowned then, she had seen Izuku look flustered, but that look was almost as if he had been caught in the act. _Why are you looking so shifty, Izuku-kun?_

"R-r-r-r-really? Nah, I mean I…" He tried but only exceeded in making Mika feel even more like he was being shifty. Anyone else would either just agree or laugh it off.

"Hold up Tsuyu, All Might doesn't get hurt though. They're already different in that way!" Eijiro pipped up from the other side of Tsuyu. "… But that sort of simple strength-enhancing quirk is awesome! You can do a lot of cool stuff with it. Not like my hardening. I'm good in a fight, but it's really boring"

Mika bristled at the fact that Eijiro thought his quirk was boring. In Mika's eyes, no ones quirk was boring. They were unique and interesting however they manifest in people and she was always super excited to learn about how other people's quirks worked. She leaned forwards in her seat and rested her arms against the headrest of Jiro's seat in front.

"Hey, Eijiro-kun… I think your quirk is plenty awesome!" She flashed him as quick a smile as she was comfortable with everyone else watching. His eyes widened a little at her outburst from the back, but erupted into a massive grin and gave her an enthusiastic thumbs up.

"Yeah, Mika-chan is right, I think it's pretty neat. Your Quirk's more than enough If you want to go pro!" Izuku backed her up.

"But don't forget that Heroes also have to worry about popular appeal!" Aoyama stated, from where he was all but glittering, with his head resting in his hands as he smiled to Izuku from across the bus. _Yeah, Popular appeal. The only downside of becoming a Hero, you have to become worried about how others perceive you, and you need to all of a sudden live your life in the spotlight. Nah, not for me…_ "My naval laser is both strong and cool. Perfect for a pro"

"Yeah, only as long as you don't blow up your own stomach, honey" Mina mollified. "You wanna talk strong and cool? That'd be Todoroki, Bakugo and Yamada"

Mika scoffed as she fell back into her seat at the notion of her being strong and cool. It was weird, and she didn't know if she should take it as a compliment, but then when she realised she had just been likened to the stone cold Todoroki and the explosively arrogant and all round bastard Bakugo, she doubted she should really be pleased with it.

"Don't compare me to Sunshine, you'll upset me" Mika deadpanned as she crossed her arms. Although she couldn't help but feel pleased when she heard the familiar 'Tch' come from Bakugo as she knew he would be getting more and more pissed with every word everyone was saying.

"But Bakugo is so unhinged. He'd never be popular" Tsuyu stated and Mika winced. _Oh that was harsh, unhinged?_ Mika couldn't help but let her eyes dart over to where she could see Bakugo practically shaking with anger.

"What'd you say, frog face?" He shouted as she leaned over the bar before him. Mika sighed and rolled her eyes. As rude and harsh as Tsuyu's comment was, his reaction didn't help at all.

"See" She pointed to his outburst as if to prove her point.

"Unhinged is a little harsh I think…" Mika mumbled under her breath and she let her eyes slide over to the window to watch the passing greenery, unaware of the red eyes that swung back to look at her at her comment.

"We've only barely started socialising and already you've made it abundantly clear to us the unpleasantness of your steaming turd of a personality!" Denki announced with a cheeky grin and this time Mika couldn't help but let out a bark of laughter at the pure fluentness that Denki had basically called Bakugo a little shit.

"That was poetry" Mika scoffed. She flinched when she felt Todoroki shift beside her and she spared him a glance only to find his piercing grey and blue gaze on her. Something about the way his judgey eyes were on her made her hackles go up. "Sorry sweetie, did we wake you up?"

"You are all way too loud"

"Apologies on everyone's behalf for having actual characters, your highness" She bit sarcastically back at him as Bakugo shouted over at Denki.

"There's no need to prove Kaminari's point about people having personalities like shit" He bit back effortlessly like he had predicted how she would react and talk back at him.

"Excuse me?"

"You're excused…"

"You think you are so clever and so above everyone else… you're not the only person to get in under recommendation sweetie, don't feel too self-important" She snipped, her eyes flashing darkly at him, and she could feel a snarl forming over her teeth. She knew that she should have kept her mouth shut, that she should have let it go, but the condescending look in his eyes just irked her so much.

"You really are a repulsing human" He stated. Mika felt the word hit her like a brick wall.

"The fu…"

"Woah, why are _you_ both at each other's throats?" Denki called back, making everyone turn to look at Mika and Todoroki.

Mika felt like she was about to rip Todoroki's face from his head and could feel how her hands were itching to start soaking up the dark energy from the shadows around her to help her do it. She was shaking as she glared absolute daggers at the boy who was now just staring blankly back at her like she was nothing but dust compared to him. _I have never been so insulted in all my life… repulsing, who the fuck does he think he is!_ Mika stood, even though the bus was still moving, and she tapped Jiro on the shoulder.

"Swap with me" Mika demanded more than asked and Jiro blinked before nodding without saying a word. The choppy black-haired girl quickly slid from her seat and squished past the fuming Mika and plopped down next to Todoroki. Mika fired one last dirty look at Todoroki who was now not even looking at her but back out the window before she slammed her arse down into the seat beside Bakugo.

"Fucking arse hat calling me repulsive, who the bloody hell does he think he is… doesn't know a single thing about the shit I've been through to get here…" She couldn't help but mumble darkly under her breath as everyone looked nervously at their classmates murderous face.

"You look more like a villain with a face like that, Yamada-san" Mineta pipped up from the front and if looks could kill, he would have been buried six feet under. She flashed him a sick glare and he paled and gulped.

"Did I ask for your opinion?" She seethed.

Bakugo watched with his own scowl over his face as Mika boiled over beside him. At the comments made from that half and half kid and the grape perv, he could see that she was ready to burst. He watched as she grabbed the bar in front of them and her knuckles went white form the force she was clamping down on it. In that instant he could understand what she was feeling, and if he was a nicer more considerate person he would consider trying to calm her down. Yet he wasn't, and so he just slumped into his chair and glowered out the window, glancing every now and again at the fuming curly haired girl beside him.


	13. Chapter 13 - Drive

Chapter 13 – Drive

Mika had never been so happy to get out of a bus in her life. Everyone filtered out and she immediately stood away from the group with her arms crossed over her chest and her bored look firmly resting across her face. Bakugo had also distanced himself to the other side of the group leaving Denki and Eijiro stood conflicted between them. They were all stood in the shadow of the largest dome like building that any of them had ever seen. It almost stretched into the horizon when they looked to the left and right of them. Mika was not bothered about soaking everything in at that moment in time though, she had her eyes pinned to her shoelaces as she got lost in her own head.

Mika felt like she was about ready to punch something. Not only had Todoroki bought out her bad side, he had then completely floored her by calling her repulsive. She had never been called anything so hurtful in her life. She knew that she wasn't the easiest person to get on with, but it was something that she was desperately trying to change, and she thought that she had been getting better. It wasn't her fault that for most of her life, indifference and coldness was all she was shown, and therefore all she was really capable of expressing. She didn't think that it made her repulsive though. She could feel the embarrassment curling around inside her stomach and it made her want to throw up.

Then to top it all off, the little gross perv Mineta had pointed something out that she had feared all her life. That she was better suited to be a villain than a hero. Those words were the ones that hurt her the most. After everything she had been through, and the way that she had been treated. People saw a dark powered Quirk and immediately assumed you were destined to be dark too. Like just because her Quirk was an affinity with shadows, meant that she was made for a life skulking around in them committing crimes and causing misery. It wasn't who she was deep down and she knew it. She may look angry like a villain sometimes, and lord knew that she could throw a glare like she could murder with it, but she was soft and that was the reason why those words hurt so much.

' _No one is ever going to understand you… not like me, you're mine'_

She knew it was all down to her own fault, she had let herself get too worked up and she had made herself into a bad guy. She shouldn't be so surprised.

 _Deep down, you always knew people would think you would be a better villain than hero. Why are I'm so surprised? Isn't this why I'm here, aren't I here to prove them wrong and become a caring and amazing hero?_

"Right, come together and follow me!" Aizawa-sensei shouted out, his eyes shooting to Bakugo and then across to Mika, both of them looking rather stormy already. He sighed and turned to stalk up the stairs, Class 1-A following closely behind him. They reached the top and he swung open the doors, revealing what was inside the massive great dome.

Set out before the class was a behemoth of a set up. They were stood up on a platform that had stairs leading down to a central plaza that had paths winding out towards different sections with all kinds of terrain. Mika felt her worries lessen a little as the awe of the location took over a little. She could see a mountainous area with sharp tall rocks, right next to what looked like a landslide area, for there was a large slope with buildings capsized into it. Then there was a huge water filled area with a massive water fall creating large waves. The more she looked around the more she could see and it blew her mind. _This place is insane, I want to live in here._

"WHOAAAAAAA!" Mina shouted as she skipped forward to soak it all in.

"Is this Universal Studios Japan?" Kirishima shouted as he too took a step forward to get a better look. Mika shuffled as quietly as she could so that she was now stood behind Denki and Eijiro, as much as she was in a foul mood and upset, she didn't want to miss out and so she figured being moody with her friends was a good idea. Denki spotted her joining them and he nudged her, giving her a reassuring smile before turning back to the view before them.

"There's a flood zone, landslide zone… a conflagration zone…" Izuku started rattling off, pure wonder in his big green eyes.

"Every disaster and accident you could imagine… I built this facility myself; I call it the 'Unforeseen Simulation Joint'" Everyone turned to where the new voice had come from. To the left of them, a person decked out in an astronaut's suit. The voice sounded strange, like it had echoed around in the helmet before making its way out the speaker.

"It's the space hero Thirteen!" Izuku gushed, and Mika could see Uraraka bouncing with excitement beside him. _Double Adorable._

"He's a gentleman hero who does his best work in rescue scenarios… Oh I love Thirteen" Uraraka also enthused.

The class all chattered excitedly about the brand-new Hero before them as Aizawa-sensei approached to have a private conversation between teachers. Eijiro had pulled Bakugo over to join them and the four of them began discussing which section they wanted to have a go in first. Mika was content to listen as Denki and Eijiro joked around and Bakugo snapped at them. _See, they don't think you are bad, they wouldn't want to stick around with you if they didn't like you… get a grip and grow a pair Mika._

"The fire one would be a good one for me, the flames would kick off some wicked shadows" She stated as Bakugo finished raving about how the fire too would be the best for him. He looked to her and smirked, and for the first time he didn't offer her a quip or comeback and she seemed a little taken aback by it all. There was a fierceness in his eyes and she tacked it down to him just pumped to inflict damage on anyone and anything.

"So be it… Lets get started!" Aizawa-Sensei called out to silence everyone. The whole Class turned with rapt attention to what came next. Their grumpy tired looking homeroom teacher swung his arm out to let Thirteen take the stage and then he shuffled back out the way.

"Before we do, I have one or two points… or three…" He started to prattle on, counting the points on his fingers as if thinking of new ones as he went along. "… or maybe four or five… anyway, as I'm sure you are aware, my quirk is called 'Black Hole'. It can suck in and tear apart anything." He explained.

The whole class was listening with complete attention as the Hero before them set about his explanation. Mika couldn't help but feel like that was the coolest quirk she had ever heard. Anything to do with space was pretty awesome and really rare, just like Uraraka's quirk, when she thought about it.

"You've used it to save people in all sorts of disasters" Izuku offered with a bright smile, Uraraka nodding so fast beside him she looked like a blur.

"Indeed, however my power could easily kill. I've no doubt there are some among you with similar abilities" Thirteen dropped and everyone felt their smiles drop at the insinuation. Mika felt her heart fall out her arse as that fact triggered a soundbite in her head, steel grey eyes flashed across her memory.

'… _You're mine now, my little shadow puppet…'_

"In our super powered society, the use of quirks is heavily restricted and monitored. It may seem that this system is a stable one, but we must never forget that it only takes one wrong move with an uncontrollable quirk for people to die…"

The class remained silent as the heavy words sunk in, for its meaning was unbearably clear. People needed to train so hard and be so uber aware of every aspect of their quirk in order to understand and control and therefore use it to aid others. Mika knew that it would be all too easy for her to unleash too much dark energy in one go and break something, or someone. The same with her healing quirk, it would be all too easy to get carried away and transfer too much dark energy into the victim and blow their insides to pieces. There was a fine line, and they all needed to be completely comfortable with treading it before they started to put others lives into the mix.

"During Aizawa's physical fitness Test you came to learn of your own hidden potential… through All Might's Battle Training you experienced the danger that your respective quirks can pose to others." Thirteen went on, his voice being completely absorbed by the class. "This class will show you a new perspective! You will learn to utilise your quirks to save lives. Your powers are not meant to inflict harm, I hope you leave here today with the understanding that you're meant to _help_ people!"

Mika could feel her excitement building at the prospect of getting stuck into the rescue training, all the while Thirteen was speaking she could feel her drive strengthening and the hurt of being called a villain and repulsive only added to the fuel. They will have to eat their words when she surpassed them in todays exercise, and then none of them would ever question whether she was really a hero or not.

"That is all! Thank you for listening" Thirteen bowed deeply before the class, making them all erupt into applause at the strong and inspirational words he bestowed upon them all. Mika clapped slowly along with the rest of them.

"He's awesome" Uraraka beamed as she threw Thirteen a thumbs up.

"Bravo Bravooooo!" Iida shouted as he clapped the loudest.

 _Bunch of adorable idiots._

"Great, now first off…" Aizawa-sensei started, before his head turned sharply to the side. Mika frowned as a horrid crackling sound filled the dome, echoing around and making the whole class fall silent once more. All eyes followed where Aizawa-sensei was looking and down below them before the centre of the plaza something was forming.

It was like a black mist that slowly and surely started to spread and open up like a black hole. Mika couldn't help but reach out with her hand to try sussing out the shadows and understand what it was, but before she had a chance to try a hand clamped down on her shoulder and she turned to see Denki shake his head at her. They both looked back to the mist in time to see something reach out of it, and when Mika really squinted, she could make out a hand reaching out and grabbing at the air.

"HUDDLE UP AND DON'T MOVE!" Aizawa-sensei shouted back at them all, which made a few of them jump. The fierceness in his voice and the way his face was set in fury, Mika couldn't help but take a step backwards. _What the hell? Why does our Hero homeroom teacher look scared?_

"Huh?" Iida stuttered as they all looked on completely confused.

"Thirteen! Protect the students?!" Aizawa-sensei carried on shouting striding away from them and towards the top of the stairs.

Then from before them the mist launched out sideward, creating a black like crack in the plaza, and out poured what looked like dozens and dozens of people, of all shapes and sizes and kinds. Mika could see some were absolutely huge, whilst others were small, yet what worried her the most was the way they were all creeping up towards the base of the stairs, all of them looking up with hatred in their eyes at them. _What the hell, are those real people… are they supposed to be a part of the simulations? What's going on?_

"What the heck's that?" Eijiro shouted to their homeroom teacher. "More battle robots like in the entrance exam?"

"Those aren't robots…" Mika muttered, Denki and Eijiro looking back at her with worry in their faces. She was vaguely aware of Izuku trying to move forward to get a better look but Aizawa turned back and flashed him a warning glare, before pulling his goggles up over his eyes.

"Don't move!" He shouted. "Those are Villains!"

Those last three words made every single one of the class stop breathing almost. Mika felt a freezing cold drip of fear run right down her spine and through into her toes as goose bumps erupted over her skin. She watched with sick anticipation as the villains flowed out from the black mist and towards the bottom of the stairs. _Villains? In a U.A Facility…_

Mika's head started to kick into gear and she remembered Aizawa-sensei had told them all to gather together. She grabbed Denki and Eijiro's hands and pulled them closer to the group. She flashed Bakugo a look and he merely nodded, and side stepped closer to them all.

"We need to stay together…" She stated, when her friends looked to her and they then in turn nodded back too.

"Thirteen and Erasure Head is it?" Came a deep voice, and everyone's eyes narrowed in as the black mist flew back inwards and formed an almost humanoid looking shape with white eyes appearing. "According to the staff schedule I received the other day… All Might is supposed to be here…"

"Did they just say they have a staff schedule?" Mika gasped. A few of the class looking to her with wide eyes at the implication.

"Of course, that whole incident was this scums doing" Aizawa-sensei theorised.

"Where is he? We've come all this way and brought so many playmates…" A new voice sounded. Lanky looking man stood just in front of the black mist villain, with what looked like hands covering him. It was unbelievably gruesome, with one very pale withered hand clasping the villains face, one wired blood shot eye peeking out between two fingers. "… All Might, the symbol of peace… is he here?"

"What does he want with All Might?" Jiro asked, looking terrified as she grabbed onto Momo's hand.

They all watched with sickening fear as the man covered in hands took two shaky steps forwards and then pointed his own hand up at the class, his visible eye twitching over each of the students faces.

"I wonder if some dead kids will bring him here?" He cackled, making Mika audibly gasp.

 _Shit…_


	14. Chapter 14 - Danger Zone

Chapter 14 – Danger Zone

It was as if that very threat bought everyone out of their states of shock to fall right into panic. The whole class started to pace around and shout at each other. Mika could feel the tension rising in herself let alone everyone else around her. The closer the mob of villains got the more desperate they all sounded. Mika couldn't believe it, if Villains had made it here, then did that mean they were at the main campus too? Her brain was trying to connect the dots, but she couldn't concentrate with the shouts and threats coming from below.

' _I wonder if some dead kids will bring him here?'_

He must be insane, Mika thought. Her eyes scanned over for the man with the hands, yet he was still stood where he had appeared next to the black mist. Watching as his fellow villains headed straight for them. _He must be the ringleader, who else would hang back, he must be the one with the plan, along with that black mist guy._ Mika felt her hands aching to activate her quirk and she wondered if she would need to protect herself or whether they were just going to book it and rush back out towards the bus.

"Sensei, aren't there intruder sensors?" Yaoyorozu shouted to Aizawa who was still assessing the villains below them.

"Of course, there are…" Thirteen answered when Aizawa ignored his student, the strain evident in his voice.

"Are they only here, or also at the main building?" Todoroki asked, more to himself than to anyone else. He had moved closer to the edge to take a look at what was approaching them all. "Either way, if the sensors aren't working it has to be one of their quirks that's doing it"

Mika nodded, and although she was still pissed and angry at the half and half guy for calling her repulsive, she agreed with him. The Villains must have either found a way to disable the sensors, or they had targeted the main campus too, immobilising all security and surveillance. Which meant they were possibly on their own.

"This place is far from the campus, and they picked a time when there was to be a class here… so maybe these villains aren't as dumb as they seem" Mika stated, running a nervous hand down her face. "They must have an objective against All Might, because this is a well-coordinated attack"

Todoroki and Mika's words made Aizawa-sensei snap back to reality and he turned from his position at the top of the stairs and started to point at the main doors behind where the class were stood.

"Thirteen, begin evacuation and try calling the school! One of these villains must be jamming the sensors, there's a good chance that one of their electric types is causing the interference" He shouted, as he pulled at his strange scarf, he turned then towards where Mika, Denki, Eijiro and Bakugo were stood together. "Kaminari, try using your quirk to signal for help"

"Got it" Denki nodded nervously, and Mika watched as he turned his back away from the three of them with his hand pressing against the headphone like booster against his left ear.

"But Sensei you can't fight them all alone!" Izuku shouted, as Aizawa started to make his way down a few steps. Izuku had rushed forwards and was looking beyond scared for their homeroom teacher. Mika understood how he felt, she didn't see a way for their pro teacher, no matter how amazing he was, to take down that many villains. "Against that many… even you can't nullify all their quirks! As Erasure Head, your fighting style involves Erasure and a quirk binding capture. Head on Battle isn't…"

"No good hero is a one trick pony… Thirteen! Take care of them" Aizawa-sensei coolly spoke before he all but leapt all the way down the stairs towards the oncoming onslaught of villains.

"Sensei!" Mika shouted after him, before spinning round to Thirteen with a furious scowl, yet when the Space Hero merely started ushering the class away towards the doors, Mika took a step towards the stairs. She got only few steps before she was halted when Eijiro grabbed her hand, she glared at him over her shoulder. _Why isn't anyone willing to help?_ "I don't care how confident he is… he can't take them all on his own!"

"All students are to remain away from the main plaza…" Thirteen called to her.

"No way… he needs help" Mika started, her hands splaying out at her side, making all the shadows beneath the class twitch.

"Stand down, Yamada-san!" Thirteen barked, a lot more authority in his voice this time. Mika scoffed before letting her eyes find her Homeroom teacher just as he reached the first few villains. She watched with her breath held in her chest as he wrapped two villains in his scarf before yanking it and having them collide mid-air, knocking them out. It was fascinating to watch, and as terrified and frustrated as Mika was, she was impressed by the pure combat skill Aizawa-sensei had against the villains as they all began to surround him. _Doesn't matter how good he is, there are far too many of them… didn't you start this course to become a hero?_

"Wow, he can hold his own even when outnumbered!" Izuku stammered as he too stood with wide eyes as their Homeroom teacher took down one after another.

"This is no time for analysis, hurry up and evacuate… all of you!" Thirteen shouted. Eijiro tightened his grip on Mika's hand and pulled her away.

"No this is so wrong…" She cursed as she was pulled away, hot on Izuku's heels as the class ran for the large doors they had entered through.

"What can you do, Mika-chan… we're just students, we'll only get in the way" Denki tried to reason with her with scared eyes as he tapped again at the device on his ear. She shook her head and yanked her hand from Eijiro and ruefully followed after them all. The main doors just mere metres away.

"I won't allow that!" Came the deep bellowing voice. Everyone slammed to a halt as the black mist erupted before them completely blocking their path to the exit. Everyone gasped as the mist loomed over them like it was about to swallow them whole. Two white piercing eyes appeared at what must have been the head of the creature before them, looking down at them like it had found its prey. "Greetings, we are the league of villains. Forgive our audacity, but… today we've come here to U.A High School – this bastion of heroism – to end the life of All Might, the symbol of peace"

 _Kill… All Might?_ Mika's mouth dropped open and she felt her hands ball into fists. So that was why they had all appeared, they thought that All Might was supposed to be here, which he was supposed to be, and all this to kill him. _No way, no bloody way…_ She caught movement before her and watched with her words stuck in her mouth as Thirteen uncapped the top of one of his fingers, ready to use his quirk to take down the black mist before them, sucking him into his black hole quirk.

Mika felt her heart explode with fear as both Bakugo and Eijiro erupted into action beside her and she couldn't help but reach out like a child, as they rushed the black mist before them. She surged forwards herself and grabbed Thirteens arm and pushed it upwards, just as he had activated his quirk. She had completely panicked, but if she had let Thirteen unleash his quirk Bakugo and Eijiro would have been sucked in, she couldn't let that happen, she wouldn't let that happen.

"Sensei! Wait!" She shouted as she shoved the Hero's hand up to the ceiling. Then she turned to watch as Bakugo and Eijiro launched themselves at the black mist, Bakugo's hands exploding and Eijiro's hardened hands slashing through at it, only to completely miss as the black mist morphed around them, leaving the villain completely unharmed. Once she knew that Thirteen had deactivated his quirk she let go and stepped forwards, dropping into her main stance between the two idiots, hands reaching out for the shadows of her class mates behind her. _I'll be damned if my friends get hurt… I refuse to just stand and watch while people get hurt again._

"We're going to end you first!" Bakugo snapped, his eyes exuding hate at the villain.

"Bet you didn't see that coming" Eijiro shouted, his arms still completely hard.

"You stupid puff of smoke" She bit through a snarl, feeling the dark energy surge through her as her class mates shadows seeped up into her waiting palms. "You picked the wrong day to come knocking, I'm pissed off enough as it is!"

"That _was_ close, yes… students though you may be, you are the best of the best" The black mist stated with an obvious threat in his voice as his mist warped back towards the centre, the billowing of it exposing the neck of a shirt with a tie, before it covered it back over again.

"No… all of you get back right now!" Thirteen shouted to them, but it was too late. Before any of them knew what was happening, the black mist erupted outwards, completely swallowing them all up. Mika yelped and threw her arms up over her face as the mist rushed around her like a freezing cold hurricane. _Come on, do something!_ She screamed internally at herself before she tried to reach out to Eijiro or Bakugo, but she couldn't see a thing. Then as if she had been touched by Uraraka's quirk she suddenly felt extremely weightless, as if she was floating. Her eyes flew open and all she could see was pitch black, the sounds of her classmates slowly fizzling out to nothing.

 _Shit shit shit… have I blacked out?_

Then before she even had a chance to self asses, she felt something open up below her and then she was falling about five feet onto the hard ground with a huff. Mika scrambled to stand, and she looked around completely confused as she was now in a very beaten up and derelict room. Gone was the massive exit and her classmates, what replaced it was a small room with blown out windows and rubble all over the floor. She spun around to try and come to terms with what the hell just happened. _Warp… the black mist git could warp, that must have been how he got all those villains into the USJ, he could just open up a gate and have them wander through like they were coming round for tea, and with the sole purpose of killing one of my teachers._

She was completely alone. She looked down at her hands and sighed, she could feel the dark energy that she had consumed bubbling away inside of her and she knew that if she didn't expel it soon, she would be in trouble. That was something she absolutely could not let happen, and so she let out a big breath, most of the energy rushing out like black fog. She turned herself to the window and gingerly shuffled towards it to get a better look at where she had been transported to.

Outside she could see battered and crumpled streets and in that instance, she realised that she had been transported to the earthquake zone. She could see damage beyond repair in every direction, with some buildings crumbling while others were teetering on the edge of just falling right over. She quickly scanned the area and she knew that this place wouldn't be an issue for her, for there were shadows hidden about everywhere. She felt relieved to know that if she needed it, they were within reach. It was then that she noticed movement opposite her on the other side of the street. She squinted her eyes and before long she realised what she had seen. Through a broken window on the third floor she spotted a head of ash blond hair and she immediately felt a grin at the prospect of not being alone. She leaned out the window and cleared her throat.

"Ne, SUNSHINE!" She shouted.

"EHHH?" Came the reply as the furious blond-haired explosion expert stuck his own head out the window and looked out across the devastated street at her. She could see from this distance that he was pissed off beyond belief.

"YOU OK?" She shouted over.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK?!" He shouted back with a cocky smirk. "SHITTY HAIR IS HERE TOO!"

With that Eijiro appeared in the window next to him, waving at her with a nervous smile about him. She was about to shout over that she would head over to meet with them, but more movement caught her eye and she threw her hand out and pointing behind them, just as Bakugo too, pointed towards her. She knew exactly what he meant for in that instance she heard it, deathly quiet footsteps right behind her.

She dropped into stance, and before a second had even passed she twisted her hips and kicked upwards towards the noise. She felt her thick booted heel connect with something, making a sickening cracking noise. Mika turned in time to watch a medium sized villain with bright orange hair and orange eyes that were now rolling into the back of his head, crumple to the floor. She had managed to kick him square in the nose, knocking him out. She huffed and took to listening out for any more adversaries.

She could hear maybe two or three sets of footsteps rushing through the building towards her, and because she could hear them they must have been close. She needed to get over to Bakugo and Eijiro, they needed to work together to get back to the rest of their class, and she had more of a chance if she wasn't fighting on her own. She huffed again, readying herself for the villains to appear in the doorway. Her heart was pounding in her ears and the adrenaline of her crazy situation started to kick in.

Then they appeared. Three of them, one massive with a thick set head and the biggest fists that she had ever seen. He had muscles on his muscles and everything about him screamed, murder. The other two were shorter and a lot thinner than the big guy. One had long black hair that hung over his face all greasy and limp, and the other had two rather hook like hands that looked as though they would hurt if he were to manage to sink them into her. She huffed and let her mask slip over her face, her eyes looking bored as she fixed each of them with a cold glare.

"You so picked the wrong day to piss me off…" She moaned, as she opened up her palms, the villain's shadows rushing out from underneath them and up into her waiting hands. They all looked to each other, but still crept forwards towards her. Once she felt like her whole body had consumed enough, she let her hands ball into fists, her feet slipping out a little so that she could get a stronger stance, eyes now blacked out and filled with dark energy.

"Well, ladies first" She offered, a Cheshire cat grin erupting over her face, almost splitting it in half.

The big one rushed her first, with the other two hanging back to watch. He lumbered forwards, his large muscles making him move funny, before he threw out his right arm in a massive hook towards her face. She let out a 'hmmph', before merely side stepping and letting him follow him momentum past her, and as he tried to turn, she thrust energy into her left arm and hand as she slammed it into the pressure point under his ribs.

She heard him grunt at the impact, for she was a hell of a lot stronger than she looked when she had the dark energy flowing through her. She sniggered as he spun back around and reached out with both arms for her, not wanting to make the same mistake now that he knew how quick she could be. She gasped as his massive hands reached for her, but she never once let the smirk drop from her face when she launched into a move her Oniichan had taught her years ago as merely self-defence.

Mika grabbed the two bulky hands that were reaching for her just beyond the wrist and she once again used his momentum against him, by dropping her body down and below his legs, yet pulling his wrists as she went therefore toppling him over right onto his head. She whirled round and aimed a solid dark energy boosted kick to the head, and he was out like a light. She huffed and stood herself back up as soon as she could, her eyes now glued to the other two as they loitered near the doorway, her only way out.

Both of the villains started to converge on her and she knew that had enough dark energy in her to take them both down so long as they didn't turn out to be pro's at hand to hand. She eyed the one with greasy black hair, for his quirk was not so easy to determine, for he looked completely normal. _His must have a manifestation quirk of some kind, rather than a visible or physical one. I need to be careful and try to avoid him getting close enough to touch me, just in case._

The one with hooks for hands lunged at her then and she dodged once more, swinging her arm round with her hand slicing a chop to the back of his neck making him hiss out in pain as he stumbled past her. She focused her dark energy on her legs then and she went for another strong kick only for her to completely miss. Her emerald eyes darted to her opponent who had used his hooks to yank himself out of the way of her kick, by latching around the arm of his pal.

She didn't let them rest for even a second and she surged forwards, fist thrumming with dark energy as she fake aimed for the hooked guy, only to switch at the last minute and drive her first into the face of the greasy haired villain, who yelped as he was thrown back into the wall behind him. She jumped back and created distance whilst the two villains got themselves up and ready.

"You bitch…" The greasy haired one stammered as he pulled himself up. She watched as he started to produce a foam like substance from his hands and she was immediately reminded of Mina's quirk. She jumped backwards away from him, but didn't quite react in time, for he threw his hands out, the foam making contact with her arm, shoulder, neck and left side of her face.

She couldn't help the loud yelp that escaped her lips as she felt her skin start to burn away, the smell and pain making her want to throw up. She yanked her trench coat sleeves over hands before frantically wiping away at her face, getting the foam off her burning skin, the residue eating away at her trench coat. _That shitting hurt…_

Mika felt her anger rising, getting fuelled by the intense pain she was in. She pumped her fists out before her in pure rage before letting her eyes fade into black as she began soaking in even more shadows around her. The two before her readied themselves, but they didn't stand a chance. Mika burst forward towards like them a bullet being shot from a gun. In one swift motion she had grabbed them both by their necks and slammed them headfirst through the wall, leaving them both out cold. Mika stood from the rubble of the broken wall and stepped back making sure to watch for any movement. Yet when both villains laid unconscious in the rubble, she let out a great sigh, the residue of dark energy in her body leaving in a puff of black smoke. _Like I said, you picked the wrong day to piss me off…_


	15. Chapter 15 - Trust your pals

**Chapter 15 – Trust your pals**

She had arrived in time to see Bakugo and Eijiro stood panting as a plethora of villains laid unconscious below their feet. Mika paused in the doorway and let out a deep sigh before she made herself known in the door way by knocking like she was about to deliver a pizza. Both lads eyes flew to the doorway, Bakugo raising his hands with sparks flying, whilst Eijiro hardened up his arms again, yet upon seeing Mika In the door way they relaxed. Now that they were turned towards her she looked over them both to make sure they were ok. Bakugo looked completely unaffected, yet he was scowling at the burn marks on her face with such a fury she thought his face might go concave. Eijiro was also standing tall, yet he had a deep gash across his cheek, that was still dripping blood.

"Woah, what the hell happened to your face?" Eijiro shouted to Mika as she made her way through the doorway into the room that he and Bakugo had been fighting in, her chunky boots crunching over the gravel and debris.

Much like her they had been dropped in a beaten and crumbling room in a building that happened to be across the small street where she had been deposited. She had made her way over as soon as she had made sure the three villains that had come for her were wedged under a massive lump of concrete, so even if they woke up, they were pretty much stuck. She then tried to rush over as quickly as she could. The pain throbbing from her face and neck caused her to falter and stumble every now and again. The villains acid quirk was really something for her to still be feeling her skin burning now. Mika knew that she needed to take a minute or two to heal herself up but she had more important things to worry about than herself. She cursed and tried to wipe at her face with her trench coat sleeves as her ears led her to where the shouting and booms of Bakugo were emanating from, yet now that she was here seeing them both fine and still standing she could maybe take a minute just to take the edge off the burning.

"You're hurt" Mika stated as she made her way over to Eijiro.

"Uh, well… have you seen your face and neck?" He gushed, pointing to her face to worry pouring out of his eyes at the sight of her puckered red skin. "What happened?"

"Villain with a quirk like Mina's… probably acid or something" She muttered as she got close enough to look over Eijiro's cut cheek. She reached a finger out to poke at it, pausing when he flinched.

"I thought you were supposed to just have knives bounce off you?" Mika asked, tilting her head at her red-haired friend.

"Yeah well, sometimes I let it slip by accident" He mumbled looking annoyed all of a sudden.

She knew she could heal it, and she knew that she was going to. This was exactly what she hated seeing, her friends in pain when she knew that she could fix it. Her mind flew over all the warnings a more nervous part of her was shouting. _If you show them your healing quirk, they will take advantage of you, use you, just like Father did…_ She frowned. _Yeah, but you will never really be close to them as friends until you trust them, take the leap of faith._ A flash of determination arched across her eyes.

"Would you like me to heal it?" She asked before she could give herself a chance to change her mind, looking to Eijiro's confused eyes.

"Heal?" He asked, confusion washing over him.

"What are you on about, curly?" Bakugo interjected with a rather pissed off expression.

"Would you like me to take the pain of your cut away?" She urged again, lifting up her hand to his face.

"Uh…. Yeah?" Her red-haired friend shrugged, not really knowing what his friend was going on about.

"Ok, just hold still then…" She instructed as she placed her hand over his cheek, covering the slice.

She then closed her eyes and let her other hand reach out for Bakugo's shadow. It wobbled and then started to gravitate towards her waiting palm. Bakugo jumped a little when he saw his shadow leak out from under him, something about the way it seeped away from him made him feel uncomfortable, but nevertheless he kept quiet and just watched. Mika let her eyes open then, completely black and void as both boys watched her with confused looks. She urged the dark energy up through her and into the hand that was placed over the slice, and then urged it through to reach out into the cut on Eijiro's face. After a few seconds she could feel the slice forming across her own cheek as the wound was transferred.

"The fuck?" Bakugo cursed as he watched the exact same wound the villain with knives for fingers had slashed across Eijiro's cheek rip open Mika's cheek, the opposite one to the gross burn she had gotten. He watched as her blacked out eyes remained focused on Eijiro. Then before Bakugo had the chance to swear again she had balled her left hand into a fist stopping the transfer of his shadow, and the one covering Kirishima's cheek dropped revealing a perfectly healed cheek.

Both lads stared as Mika let out a breath of black smoke. She cleared her head and reached up to poke at Eijiro's healed cheek whilst her eyes faded back into white and emerald green.

"Better?" She asked as her now emerald eyes lifted up to look at her friends. They could see that she was nervous, that she didn't know how they would respond.

"What the hell was that?" Eijiro exploded, much like how Bakugo normally did.

"I healed you… it's an aspect of my quirk that I don't like to shout around about" She mumbled, taking a step back and scratching at the back of her head nervously.

"That's insane, and so so so manly… thanks Mika-chan!" Eijiro beamed as he smiled brightly like the sun at her.

"Oi, curly?" Bakugo called out to her, her emerald eyes flashed over to meet his intense crimson. "How about fixing your own damn face then, huh?"

"It doesn't work like that, I can use my quirk to hold the cut together till Recovery Girl getes here, but I can't do anything for burns…" She sighed, gently reaching a hand up to touch at the burn. Before she could touch it, Bakugo slapped her hand away.

"Don't touch that shit!" He snapped.

"You ok?" Eijiro asked, moving to put a hand on her shoulder.

"I think so… It just stings a little, how does it look?" She asked, standing up straight and sucking in a deep breath whilst they inspected her face.

"It looks like a really bad heat rash or something, like you are contagious!" Eijiro summised thoughtfully.

"Looks fucking nasty" Bakugo deadpanned.

"Gee thanks" She rolled her eyes at him.

"Nice quirk though, curly" Bakugo huffed as he shifted his weight onto his right leg and eyed her with a slightly less intimidating glare than usual. She felt her body tense at his words. _He is just complimenting you, stop being so defensive._ "Handy to have in battle"

"Thanks… shall we head off to the others then?" She nodded, she cursed herself as she felt her walls going up a little as she tried to deflect. Her eyes dulled as she put the indifferent mask on and she knew that Bakugo knew what she was doing for he just smirked at her as her bored look appeared. She motioned towards the door and turned as if it was a given that they were going to go and help their fellow classmates. Mika had come to the conclusion that others must have been split up within the USJ, if they were anything to go by. Some of the others might be in areas where their quirks aren't suited to, and if that was the case, they needed help.

"Yeah, lets hurry and help the others" Eijiro nodded. Mika felt her breath go, thankful that Eijiro had agreed so that they could get going and she could calm herself down. She was getting stressed and was slightly regretting showing her healing aspect of her quirk. "If we are here, I bet everyone else is also in the USJ, I'm worried about the guys who don't really have ways to attack"

"Thirteen-sensei probably has his hands full since you rushed ahead like that, I had to push his hands up… you were both going to be swallowed up into his black hole" Mika admonished, taking her trench coat back off and tying it around her middle so that she could cool down a little. She felt all hot and bothered, and she knew it was because she was stressed about regretting using her healing quirk, not to mention the burn on her face and her neck.

"Oh, so none of this would have happened if we'd just let him suck in that mist man…" Eijiro shot Mika a sheepish look before looking back to Bakugo who was just watching them both with a frown. "As men we gotta take responsibility…"

"If that's what you want, take curly and go ahead… I'm gonna beat that Warp Gate guy to a pulp!" Bakugo announced, making Mika sweat drop and roll her eyes.

"Seriously?" Mika huffed, flashing her bored eyes straight at him, making the vein in his forehead pop out in anger.

"Still pulling that immature crap at a time like this?" Eijiro joined in, waving his arms about as he looked worriedly at Bakugo. Both Mika and Eijiro knew from the small amount of time they had spent with Bakugo that he was impulsive and had a knack of jumping into fights that they weren't entirely sure he could win. "… besides, normal attacks don't work on him"

"SHUT UP" Bakugo bit back, looking completely done with their arguing. "He's how these punks are getting around. Bring him down and they'll have nowhere to run!"

"What about our classmates?" Mika insisted, stepping forwards with frustration.

"What about them?" He snorted. "Look, it's not like I don't have a way to beat him…"

Just then, movement above Bakugo made her eyes flicker upwards in confusion. Bakugo noticed and concentrated on listening behind him, picking up on rattled breathing. _What the hell was that?_ The more she concentrated the less there was to see, but at the same time the ceiling didn't look right.

"YES!... keep chatting, let your guard down" A rushed rattled voice shouted, a reptile looking short man appeared, launching towards Bakugo. Both Eijiro and Mika took a step forwards, Eijiro hardening up again and Mika throwing her hands out shadows lurching towards her hands. Yet Bakugo merely swung a handout and latched it around the head of the oncoming villain and in one foul swoop managed to slam him completely into the ground, with his hand exploding around the head of the now completely knocked out villain.

"I mean…" Bakugo carried on, so unaffected by the turn of events that it made Mika look to him with wide amazed eyes. Her hands dropped to her sides, balling into fists to cut off the flow of shadows. The dark energy that she had consumed left her in one big breath as she stared at him as he dropped the head of the villain. "If all they're sending against us are these idiots… we should be fine"

 _Oh… I see now. It's not that he doesn't care, he just has faith in them to be able to hold their own._ Mika felt her shoulders relax a little once Bakugo stepped over the prone body of the reptilian villain towards the door. She understood then why he was acting like he was, he knew that everyone else would be ok because they are all strong in their own ways, otherwise how could they have gotten onto the Hero course. He saw the only course of action as to being shutting down the means of the villains escape, or even how they could call for back up. She let her emerald eyes follow him, a fire lighting up inside them.

The more she thought about it the more it made sense. If they were to go after the Warp Gate it would mean that they were able to trap the villains inside the USJ till the Pro Heroes got here to apprehend them. It would mean also that they would eliminate the threat of the Warp Gate bringing more upon more Villains in. It was a win win, and now that she had realised she completely agreed with Bakugo, even though that notion made her want to rip out her black curls.

She cast a quick glance to Eijiro who had obviously been thinking the same as her, for when she turned he was already looking to her with a raised eyebrow. She raised her own brow in return and shrugged her shoulders. He merely smirked at her and looked back to Bakugo.

"You sure are calm all of a sudden…" Eijiro piped up.

"I'm always calm you damned broom-head!" He snapped back angrily, flipping him his middle finger.

"Wow" Mika deadpanned at Bakugo's response. "Broom head?"

"Shut up, curly" He bit back, and she merely shifted her weight onto her left leg, placing her hand on her hip and she winked to him making him fume and start towards the door. "I'm outta here…"

"Hold up, sunshine" Mika droned.

"You gotta trust your pals… Be a man Bakugo" Eijiro spoke with conviction and Mika knew that it wasn't only her that had been a little inspired by Bakugo's faith in their classmates. She stepped towards him punching her fists out before her as Eijiro smacked his hardened fists against each other. Both of them grinning to Bakugo, making the explosive teen feel a sense of companionship for once.

"You've convinced us" She smirked, her grin spreading under her slightly more animated eyes.


	16. Chapter 16 - Nomu

**Chapter 16 – Nomu**

It didn't take long for Bakugo, Eijiro and Mika to find their way out of the collusion zone. If they hadn't been so set on finding their way out they would have been able to soak it all in and realise how absolutely amazing it was that the facility was so life like and insanely huge. Mika felt like they had been walking for what felt like an hour and she was starting to doubt Bakugo knew where he was storming off to.

Bakugo had all but stomped his feet like a three-year-old out of the room where they had meet up, Mika and Eijiro trailing behind him. Mika had tied her black trench coat around her waist, her toned stomach now on show between her high waisted black leggings and black and green stripy cropped t-shirt. It was a little bit better, but she still felt hot. Her mind was constantly flashing back to the moment when Bakugo had commented on the healing aspect of her quirk. She wasn't sure if it had been a good idea. Showing Izuku was easy because he was the kind of person that couldn't even hurt a fly, she couldn't ever see him using it against her. Yet someone like Bakugo could, she could easily see him taking advantage of her because of it, therefore when he complimented it in his backwards way she had gotten all defensive.

Eijiro on the other hand had not stopped raving about how useful it would be for her to train with Recovery Girl and although Mika knew that it would help, she didn't want to. She didn't want others to have a hand in how she used it. Healing was something very personal to her because she went through the pain of the wounds she was healing in others. As much as it would be amazing for her to train it up and constantly help others, it would take a toll on her, especially mentally. If all she could do was take the injuries from them and make them her own, what good was it really doing, apart from constantly putting herself at more risk. _Maybe with more training I could learn how to heal completely, instead of just stabilising._ She thought.

"I can't wait to get my hands on that fucker" Bakugo grumbled in front of Mika and Eijiro.

"How are you going to take him down though" Eijiro asked, both himself and Mika catching up and walking either side of the explosive teen.

"I'm going to grab him at his neck… when he attacked, I caught a glimpse of something around it… I'm thinkin I can grab it and blow it to hell" He explained, his eyes dead set before him in determination.

"Something around his neck huh?" Mika pondered. "So potentially there are parts of his body that he can't protect with just the warp gate…"

"You're so manly Bakugo" Eijiro pumped his fist. "Why didn't I think of that"

"Because you're an extra, shitty hair" Bakugo bit back.

"So rude…" Mika sighed.

"Heh?" Bakugo turned an eye to her.

"I said… 'SO RUDE'… dude, is your hearing ok?" She crossed her arms as they walked, her bored eyes glaring at him as the vein started throbbing in his head again.

"Fuck off curly, I just can't hear you because your voice is like an annoying high pitched bitch noise" He spat at her, Eijiro sweat dropped the other side of him as he saw his two friends going at it again.

"Pardon?" Mika pretended to not hear him, just to wind him up.

"You heard me!" He fumed.

"Sorry, can you speak up?" She winked to Eijiro, who just rolled his eyes at her.

"I will fucking blast you to next week…"

"Is that the exit" Eijiro cut across them, pointing to a high wall three blocks away, with a big door cracked open right before them. Mika squinted towards the wall and smiled as she realised they had finally made it to the edge of the collusion zone. She started to pick up her pace till she was jogging over the gap in the wall. She could hear the other two right behind her, and when she got to the gate she tried to stealthily poke her head out to see if there were any more villains waiting for them at the exit to jump them.

She had just poked her head round, a few black curls falling from her bun to frame her face, yet before she could take a good look around Bakugo had strolled right out passed her and turned to look at her like she was an idiot.

"What, I was checking that there weren't any villains?" She shrugged, as she then strolled out with Eijiro behind her.

"Idiot"

"Shut up, Sunshine… which way then?" She asked, her eyes sweeping the area around them.

They had come out of the collusion and were faced with the wide central plaza. It spread out before them, the stairs up to the main entrance where they had been warped from was to their right, lurching up towards the one and only entrance and exit. The side that they were on was completely empty, the paths leading up to central fountain were void of any villains, but in the distance all three of them could hear the distinct shouts of people fighting.

Mika started forwards, heading towards the stairs when a loud slam from above them echoed out across the whole USJ. All three of them paused their eyes flying up at the source of the noise.

"What was that?" Eijiro gushed.

"Reckon our classmates have managed to get out for help yet?" Mika thought out loud, only for her voice to fade out when a familiar flash of broad muscles and yellow hair streaked down the stairs to the echo of the famous 'I AM HERE' floating around them and around the whole of the USJ. Mika felt a tension in her shoulders drop at the realisation that All Might had arrived. There was no way these Villains stood a chance against the number one Hero in the whole world, no way. She felt a relieved smile flicker over her features as her eyes darted after the blur of their celebrity Hero sensei. Yet, there was still a small part of her that was worried, worried that the Villains had come for a reason, and that maybe All Might turning up was exactly what they wanted, considering he was supposed to be here at the same time. _I hope everyone is ok…_

"OHH ALL MIGHT!" Eijiro shouted, and fist pumped as they all watched the flash fly down the stairs and towards the fighting.

"Finally," Bakugo hissed as he stretched out his arms before him. The massive gauntlets glinting in the artificial USJ lights.

"Reckon he even needs our help then?" Eijiro asked, looking nervously towards where All Might had run off to and the stairs that led back up to where the rest of their class should be.

"Of course, he needs our help!" Came an indignant sounding voice. All three sets of eyes span round as Todoroki ran up to them from the exit of the Landslide zone to the left of their Collusion Zone. He also looked completely unharmed, but they could tell that he had been using his Ice quirk for they could see his breath, as it came out with icy crystals glittering before melting into the air before him.

Once he joined them, he let his eyes scan over all three of them, and when his eyes landed on Bakugo, the explosive teen tensed and flashed him a deadly glare.

"I had a chat with one of the villains sent to attack me in the Landslide zone… turns out they sent a bunch of weak imbeciles to take us down… he said they had a weapon that could kill All Might, that's why they came here" Todoroki explained, his eyes glancing back to where All Might had dashed off to.

Bakugo didn't even say another word, before he started sprinting towards where All Might had disappeared to. Mika launched after him, her mind racing with ideas on who she could help Bakugo take down the Warp Gate. Even though All Might was here, he still didn't know that there was point in the Warp Gate man that he could hit, and therefore they needed to go and help. If they were able to take down the Warp Gate, All Might could focus on taking out all the other Villains and saving them all. _Maybe if we are able to take down the Warp Gate, it would get him out the way and ruin their plan… there's no way that any of them were going to let All Might get taken down._

"Hey wait up!" Eijiro shouted after them.

Mika pushed her legs to go as fast as they could, before she gave up and had her hand reaching out to pull at the shadow beneath Bakugo before her. He didn't even notice as his shadow leaked back towards Mika as she raced after him. She felt the dark energy filling her up and she pushed it down in her legs making her speed pick up and she tore ahead to run side by side with Bakugo, flashing him a dangerous smirk that he sent her right back as they tore around the fountain towards where they could hear All Might engaging in battle.

When they rounded the fountain, the scene before them had them slowing down just enough to asses everything. Mika felt her eyes widen in complete fear and anxiety.

All Might was trapped.

He must have been fighting with the giant bird like man with brains spilling out of his face. Yet what they saw was nothing like what they were expecting. All Might had obviously grabbed the giant creature by the waist, lifting it up and over his head aiming to slam it down into the ground. Yet the very reason for their rushing to help had activated a Warp Gate meaning that half the bird creature was sticking out of the ground from the waist feet up in the air, All Might's arms locked around the waist. While the other half of it had appeared underneath All Might and had latched its claws into All Might's sides, drawing blood and making the Pro Hero grunt and shout out in pain. It looked completely insane, and Mika knew that there was no way for All Might to break out of the hold without causing himself more pain and more injury.

There was something about seeing All Might in pain that shook Mika to her core. In her mind he was the world's best and because he was the world's best it just didn't fit in her head that he could ever ever get hurt or loose a battle. _He's supposed to save everyone with a smile… where's that smile?_

Mika's eyes snapped back to reality as she spotted the Warp Gate guy stood off to the left of them, completely unaware of their appearance as he was stood watching the fight before him with All Might unfold. Mika slapped her hand into Bakugo and when he turned to her with a shout ready, she pointed towards where the Warp Gate was starting to move. Bakugo in turn saw over her shoulder and his frown turned into a raging anger.

Mika span her head round to see Midoriya sprinting towards All Might, as if his life depended on it. The look on his face was equal parts desperate and parts determined, and it made Mika blink again. It was then that she realised that Izuku was running into a trap, the Warp Gate was only going to stop him by opening another gate. _Izuku you idiot, you're running into the exact same trap as All Might, can't you see?_ Mika knew if they didn't move quickly, All Might wouldn't be the only one trapped in an impossible situation.

Both Mika and Bakugo launched into action at the same time. They sprinted at high speed towards Izuku, and in turn where the black mist of the Warp Gate was reappearing before him. As he appeared they rushed towards him, the black mist floating around and coalescing before Midoriya she caught a quick sight of a silver neck plate and a part of her wanted to stop and high five Bakugo for being right, but she carried on her legs pumping with dark energy. Mika threw out both hands as she ran soaking up the shadow below Bakugo, making sure to push her limit of Dark Energy storage in her body. She felt it erupting through all of her body as it thrummed, ready to be used.

"GET THE HELL OUTA HERE DEKU!" Bakugo shrieked as both him and Mika slammed into the Warp Gate, Bakugo's hands exploding as he managed to grab at the metal plated neck, and Mika arching a leg through the air and slamming it down on the metal plate bringing the neck of the Warp Gate smashing into the ground. Izuku stopped short and his eyes widened as he took in the sight of Mika and Bakugo restraining the Warp Gate whilst Eijiro rushed to step in between the guy with hands all over him and them.

"So I heard you people are here to kill All Might… but scum like you could never kill the symbol of peace" Todoroki coldly spoke out, making the villain covered in hands look to the half white haired and red haired teen who had strolled up next to the green haired teen.

"You're not all that" Mika snarled down at the Warp Gate, her body fizzing almost with dark energy, both eyes completely blacked out due to her quirk.

"You misty mook!" Bakugo sneered down also, a manic kind of excited grin spreading across his face at the fact that he had managed to take down the Warp Gate, just like he said he would.

Mika took her eyes off the Warp Gate below her booted foot to watch as Ice cracked out from beneath Todoroki, and out towards the bird like creature. It spread over it and once it was completely cover, the only bit left untouched were the hands near where they were digging into All Might's side. They all waited with bated breath before All Might started to strain again, and when he decided that he could make it he lurched out of the bird creatures grip and ripped himself out of his claws. Mika let out a breath of relief to see their All Might-sensei safely out of the monster's grip. All Might stumbled almost over to stand before Midoriya and Todoroki, one hand covering the bleeding claw marks in his side, the other outstretched before his two students.

"You've both pinned down our way out… well, this is a problem" The villain with hands covering him spoke with such a raspy voice, it sounded as if he had been suffering with a sore throat ever since he could talk. His skin looked cracked and broken, and his hair swung limply around the hands that were attached the front and back of his face. There was something incredibly intimidating, but not in a great show of power way, in an unstable and completely unreadable way. Mika watched him through her bored blacked out eyes, noticing how the one eye that they could see was darting between both her and Bakugo manically.

"You slipped up, you bastard… and it's just like I thought!" Bakugo taunted as the hand that was clamped over the silver neck plate of the Warp Gate crackled with mini explosions. Mika smirked at his taunting and used her dark energy to push him further into the floor, the ground cracking around it.

"The parts you can turn into the foggy warp gate are limited, just like sunshine thought" Mika joined in, her bored black eyes boring into the Villain covered in hands before them.

"He uses his misty crap to mask his real body, yeah? Am I right?" Bakugo carried on, grinning madly down at the Warp Gate beneath them. "If your whole body was mist and physical attacks didn't work… then you would never have said 'that was a close one'" Bakugo sneered as he remembered back to when he and Eijiro had rushed him back at the entrance. The Warp Gate tried to shift under their hold and Mika immediately crunched her foot harder down onto the silver neck plate making him freeze once again.

"Don't you dare move… don't test me" She sneered.

"If I decide you're doing anything fishy I'll blow you up so bad they'll be piecing you back together for weeks" Bakugo cut in

"Woahhh, that's not very heroic you two…" Eijiro called out nervously.

"Not only had you beaten our level, but you're all at full health…" The hands Villain rasped, shifting his weight and clasping his hands together before him. Then with a tilt of his head he spoke out again. "Nomu. Take out that explosive brat and annoying bitch… we need our escape route back"

Everyone flinched as the Bird creature that he had called Nomu let out an inhuman screech as it snapped its body to escape Todoroki's ice, and it slowly staggered up, its eyes rolling around in its sockets furiously. Mika felt her eyes widen as it suddenly settled its eyes on them, and she felt herself hold her breath. Her world falling into slow motion. _Oh shit, shit shit…_

She was mildly aware of Izuku and All Might shouting to them and each other, but their words floated through her not landing as her attention was held fully on the Nomu before her as it regenerated. His fragmented limbs were bubbling back out of the broken sockets, and the screeches it was making would forever be ingrained into her brain.

She had completely shut down, it was only when the creature set its eyes from her to Bakugo did she wake up and start to run over a plan. There was no way that she was letting anyone get hurt, not while she was around. She would lay down her life to make sure no one got hurt around her. The image of her Nani-chan flooded her mind and it was all she could do not to burst into tears at the feeling or regret for not saving her, it drowned her and, in that instant, she knew what she wanted to do.

As soon as the Nomu launched towards them, she was already moving. She slammed her dark energy charged hands into Bakugo's chest and sent him soaring away from the Warp Gate, his eyes flashing to hers as her dark energy had him flying towards Midoriya. She closed her eyes as she felt the air around her shift, for she knew that the Nomu was upon her. She was mildly aware of shouting, but her hearing cut out when pain so hard and all-consuming erupted in her side, it felt like she had been hit by a jet plane coming into land.

Everything in her brain just stopped, the last thing she had seen before her eyes had blacked out had been the manic wide and twitching eyes of the bird creature, as it appeared a mere breath away from her face. She thought that she would feel something, like her life flashing before her eyes, or her live leaving her. Yet all she felt was immense pain.


	17. Chapter 17 - Broken

Chapter 17 – Broken

Izuku felt his heart stop as the Nomu's fast moving fist caused an explosion of thick dust around where Kacchan, Mika and the Warp Gate had been. He had tried to shout to them, but he could tell even from Mika's face that she was overcome in fear as she watched the nomu regenerate before rushing them. There was something in her eyes that had made him want to rush forwards even more, but it all happened way too fast. Even if he could have stopped the Nomu with his quirk, there was no way he would have been able to reach them in time.

"MIKA!" He shouted as himself, Todoroki and Eijiro tried to brace themselves against the wind that had been kicked off from the impact. Their eyes trying to peer through the smoke and dust to see the fate of their classmates and friends. Then some movement beside Izuku caught his eye and he turned with his mouth agape. "Kacchan?"

Bakugo was sat on his arse, eyes wide and teeth gritted together beside them, completely unharmed. They couldn't believe their eyes and confusion fell over them all.

"You dodged that?... wow!" Eijiro gushed, looking in awe at the explosive teen.

"I didn't dodge shit…" He stated, the usual insulting and biting nature of his voice gone, he just sounded like he was in shock. "That was Curly!"

All of them looked back to where the Nomu was now panting, it's eyes wildly spinning in its sockets as its steaming fist rested at its side holding no damage whatsoever. All Might stood before it with one arm raised up to take the impact of the oncoming assailant, smoke clearing around him created from the impact and the friction of his feet as the power had pushed him back at least ten metres. The other arm however was wrapped around Mika as she hung limply over it, her black curls completely loose out of the ribbon and falling down over her face. All Might had managed to get to her just in time for him to grab her up in one arm and take the direct hit with his other, although he knew that he had grabbed her with too much force in the process, she would be bruised when she awoke.

"MIKA-CHAN!" Izuku screamed, not knowing if she was ok or not but the way she was hanging limply had him shaking as he went to rush to her. Yet he had only taken one step towards her when the Nomu shot its head round to him and stared down at him.

The look made him freeze. All Might set his furious gaze back on the Nomu before him.

"He didn't even hold back… these are children!" He rumbled, his voice sounding deadly.

"Anything to save a comrade, right?" The Villain with the hands shrugged nonchalantly as the Warp Gate appeared beside him now, free from Mika and Bakugo's grips. "Just like earlier when, uh... that one… the plain one came at me with everything he had" He pointed right at Izuku as his voice all but gurgled. "… but violence in the name of saving others is admirable, right? Isn't it, hero?"

Everyone just looked at the Villain as he started to scratch at his neck. Izuku was desperate to rush to grab Mika from All Might, but every move he made was caught by the Nomu, and there was no way he could take it on and win. There was nothing any of them could do, and so they all just watched as Mika hung from All Mights arm, still very much in the firing line. Izuku knew he just needed to grab her and pull her out of the way, then All Might could engage into the fight before he ran out of time.

"You know what All Might? That really pisses me off, heroes and villains both thrive on violence, but we're still categorized… 'you're good', 'you're evil'… that's how it is!" The hand covered Villain spouted, taking his nails from his skin and throwing his arms out in a 'T' shape to make himself look bigger. The way he spoke his raspy voice wavering made him seem like he had been through this speech many a time, like he had rehearsed it, but there was something about how it didn't match the crazed look in his eye. "Symbol of peace huh?… In the end you're just a tool for violence made to keep us down… and violence only breeds more violence. I'll show the world that by killing you!"

"What a load of hooey, Idealistic criminals have a different sort of fire in their eyes… but you're just enjoying yourself, you big liar!" All Might fumed. This made the Villain chuck his head back a little both eyes now looking wildly at the Hero.

"You caught me, saw right through me… say, Symbol of Peace, how's your student doing there?"

Everyone looked to Mika's form and All Might felt his anger flare up so hard he felt his muscles ripple. It was then that she jerked awake, a rough cough erupting from her chest as she bought her arms up and pushed herself up from All Might's own massive arm. He loosened his grip on her a little, feeling her trying to create space so that she could breath. He was relieved beyond belief that she was waking, but she was only in this predicament because of the foul creatures before him, and that infuriated him.

"She is just a child, you monster!" He spat, the smile long gone from his face.

"Oh, that's a shame…" The hands villain dramatically sighed as Mika lifted her head up, blood oozing from her nose as she tried to suss out her surroundings. "… she's still alive, I'd very much like to change that."

Midoriya, Bakugo and Kirishima all bristled, anger filling them up as they readied themselves to fight for their friend. In the short time of them training and studying together they had learnt to become friends and even if they had not realised, it had instilled a bond in them that made them ache to rush to Mika's side and to get revenge for her. Izuku readied his fist, whilst Eijiro hardened up his body, the look in his eyes completely furious. Bakugo had never looked so livid whilst both hands failed to suppress the explosions that had begun. Todoroki could feel the ice at his feet rise up in deadly spikes as they all felt the burn to fight.

"It's three on one" Todoroki stated.

"But Kacchan and Mika showed us the Mist Mans weak point…" Izuku theorised.

"These are some brutal dudes, but with you supporting All Might you can beat 'em back and I'll get to Mika…" Kirishima cast his worried gaze from All Might to Mika-chan.

"NO!" All Might cut across them. "Get out of here, and all of you take your Classmate!" He ordered, eyes never leaving the Nomu before him. He leaned down to Mika who was now alert and desperately trying to get a read on the situation, he whispered in her ear and she nodded back up to him before slowly moving out of his arms and side stepping to be beside him. She wobbled slightly but managed to keep herself stood upright, the pain in her side blossoming where All Might had grabbed at her making her legs feel a little weak. She did as All Might had said and began moving very slowly towards her classmates, her eyes trained on the Nomu as it stood metres away from them.

"Things wouldn't have gone so well if I hadn't just stepped in…" Todoroki hissed across, feeling mad that he wasn't being treated like he could help.

"All Might! You're bleeding… and I think your time's u…" Midoriya started worried, his eyes wide before he cut himself off and shoved his hand over his mouth. All of them looking to All Might.

"Right you are Todoroki, so thanks for that!" He threw him a slightly shaky thumbs up "But fear not, sit back and watch a pro at work"

"Nomu, Kurogiri… take him, I shall handle the kids" The Villain hissed before they split and rushed at the Pro Hero and the class 1-A boys.

Kirishima immediately burst into a sprint away from the fighting and towards Mika where she was now stumbling towards them and away from where the Nomu was rushing at All Might, one hand wiping away at the blood under her nose. He reached her in seconds and immediately wrapped an arm around her waist and started to all but drag her back to the others.

"Thanks!" She spluttered, if the broken wince that split her face was anything to go by, she had to be in a bit of pain. She frantically let her eyes dart over her classmates making sure that none of them were hurt, especially Bakugou, yet she sighed in relief as she realised that they were all ok. Kirishima pulled her behind the others as they readied themselves for battle once more. She knew that there wasn't an awful lot she could do with the pain in her side taking away her concentration. She let Kirishima stand before her, knowing that she had done her bit, and now it was for her to put her trust in them to keep her safe.

Mika looked forwards to see Bakugou shooting her a look over his shoulder, one that she couldn't quite make out and she merely nodded to him.

"You ok, sunshine?" She asked, but he merely growled and looked back to the scene before them.

"You totally saved his arse, Mika-chan!" Eijiro reassured her. "You were so so manly"

"Heads up" Bakugou clipped.

All of them followed his gaze to where the Villain covered in hands had set off in a sprint towards them. His one visible eye was wide and blood shot as he homed in on them. All of them falling into a battle stance, apart from Mika who merely stayed behind them all where Kirishima had dragged her out the way.

It was at that moment that all of them flinched when the loudest slam was heard. Both of them flashed their eyes over to where All Might was engaging with the Nomu. All Might was moving at such a speed that it was almost impossible for the Nomu to block, his assaults were a complete blur and before long he was moving at such a pace that there was a kick back of air pressure, and it flew out from the fight making them all brace against it, Mika and Eijiro fell back onto their butts as the others crouched down to make sure they didn't too fall over from the power of the wind being kicked off the fight. It felt like they were behind the jet of a humungous airplane, the power was intense. It was then that All Might's voice rose above the rush.

The rush of air was so much that the Warp Gate and hand covered Villain had to hold back from their attack on the class kids. Unable to move against the wind.

"A Hero's always ready to smash through trouble… tell me Villain, do you know the meaning of PLUS ULTRA!" Screamed their Hero Teacher.

With that, All Might shoved the Nomu away from him, and wound back his arm. Everyone watched and waited with their hearts in their mouths as the Pro Hero punched forwards into the Nomu with such force that the creature was sent crashing through the ceiling of the USJ. There were a few moments of silence as Hero, Student and Villain alike all stared at the gaping hole in the domed roof of the USJ, the Nomu long since shot through it and the clatter of the glass of the dome could be heard hitting the ground further over one of the disaster zones.

"Woah, like straight out of a comic!" Eijiro cheered.

BREAK

Hizashi had been the first of the Pro Hero Teachers through the door of the USJ, Snipe right on his tail, guns cocked and ready to go. He had almost died on the inside when the young kid Tenya Iida had come bursting through into the staff room shouting about how Villains had infiltrated the USJ facility and that Class 1-A were there with an injured Thirteen. It had taken mere seconds for all the teachers to be rounded up and the other classes evacuated and left in the hands of the police who had responded with such speed that it was a life saver, literally.

The scene before them had been exactly how Tenya Iida had explained to them. There were a cluster of students huddled around the crumpled form of their fellow faculty member Thirteen, all of them looking up to the heroes with tears in their eyes and sighing out of pure relief. It was then that two students came over the crest of the stairs carrying a completely battered Aizawa, and Hizashi felt his blood boil.

At the sight of the villains rushing up towards the stairs from the plaza below he turned to snipe and the fellow hero cocked his guns and set to shooting off so far in the distance that none of the rest of them could see where he was aiming. Present MIC, Hizashi, sucked in a deep breath as she stepped down onto the second step, his eyes blazing at the villains rushing up the stairs, before letting out an ear-splitting and brain cracking shout that had them dropping like flies, completely out cold.

"We're a little late but, we brought everyone that we could!" The Principle called out to calm the students down. All the heroes now stood at the top of the stairs ready to head off to protect their wards. Iida rushed back in after them and headed straight for his friends, checking them over and making sure that they were ok.

"Ochako-san, where are the other students?" Midnight asked the gravity defying girl, who rushed over to her with wide eyes.

"They got split up across the USJ by the Warp Gate, we don't know where they all are!" She explained in a rush.

"Wait… I saw Todoroki, Bakugo, Yamada, Kirishima and Midoriya heading to help All Might!" Tsuyu Asui called from where she was all but dragging the out cold Eraser-Head. Hizashi felt his worry spike knowing that his Mika had rushed off into the middle of the danger, for wherever Toshinori was, there was always danger. He rushed forwards and sprinted down the stairs, a few of the other heroes right behind him as they shouted about spitting up, yet his mind was set on where he could see a cloud of smoke billowing out in the centre of the plaza, for he knew that would be where All Might was.

It took him what felt like hours to reach the four students, when in reality he had made it there in seconds. His whole world flipping when he saw two lads from Class 1-A wandering towards him with his little sister draped over their shoulders to help keep her up. Her nose was bloodied, and it looked as if her lip had been split. Hizashi felt his world stop spinning.

"MIKA!" He shouted.

"Oniichan!" Mika called, from where she wedged between Eijiro and Bakugou, the former of her classmates fawning over her.

Hizashi rushed to be beside her and grabbed at his little sisters' hand, pulling her off her class mates and holding her up on his own. She winced at his sudden attachment to her but sighed and then flashed him a massive smile hoping that it would make him realise that she was actually ok, that he didn't have to worry about her. He couldn't help but grin back at her. He took a closer look at her then and she looked like shit. Her nose had been bleeding and she had a wince painted across her features. The left side of her face looked like she had had some kind of allergic reaction, and there was bruising forming on her right arm and hip from where All Might had grabbed at her.

"Acid burn, broken ribs, bruising and concussion from the impact…" Mika explained matter of factly. "Nothing that can't be fixed Oniichan, don't look at me like that"

Hizashi flinched at her tone and she sighed deeply, letting a nervous smile breakout over his face. Not wanting to stress her out.

"The hell is all this about huh?" He huffed at his sister.

"Ohh you know, saving peoples butts… before I'm even a real hero and all that" She exhaled, making Kirishima snort in amusement at her as she rolled her eyes at her overprotective Brother.


	18. Chapter 18 - Training

**Chapter 17 – Training**

"EVERYONE!" Iida shouted out across the calm classroom with way too much energy. Mika winced and sighed from where she had faceplanted her desk in an effort to get more sleep before homeroom started. "HOMEROOM IS ABOUT TO BEGIN, TO YOUR SEATS!"

"We are all sitting, you are the only one standing!" She heard Sero pipe up, and then she heard the scuffle of Iida rushing around and the scrape of his chair as he sat himself down to join the rest of the already settled class.

It had been very weird to them all to be back sat at their desks and Mika had had to fight with her Brother just so that he would let her come in. She had been taken to hospital alongside Aizawa-sensei because Recovery Girl was preoccupied with All Might and Midoriya. She had been checked in and bound around her middle to help with the healing of her Ribs. Turned out she had broken one, and then she had sustained minor concussion along with the nasty burn and cut.

Once the doctors had fussed over her, Recovery girl turned up in a flurry and healed Mika first, giving a few good smooches on the cheek. Mika had practically melted into them though, with every gross smooch the pain reduced, and she regained a bit of comfort. Her Brother had found her sat outside the hospital on a bench waiting for him to take her home. Only for him to march her back in to make sure that she was 100% ready to leave for home. She was told to take it easy and leave the binding around her ribs on for a week to make sure her rib had healed right, but everything else had been healed up. She had then waited patiently outside the hospital for a while longer whilst her Brother visited Aizawa-sensei, and she could tell that her Brother was worried about him, for she knew that they had been friends since school. She hoped that her homeroom teacher would be ok, and she knew that he was too stubborn to not be.

Once back at home she had been sentenced to her room where she was told to get into bed and rest up. Hizashi had made her dinner in bed and had fussed over her all evening. She had pushed him out in the end when she had got a call from Kirishima. They had discussed the day with such avid declarations of how manly each other had been, and then once that phone call was done, she had Kaminari ringing her up to check up on her. Then as soon as she had put her phone down from his, Izuku had called. He had spent the first five whole minutes muttering down the phone at her, about how brave she was, about how strong she had been, or about how he should have helped more. It was incredibly adorable and, in the end, she had snapped and told him deadpan down the phone that she thought his muttering was the cutest sound ever, to which he reacted to with complete silence.

Their phone call went on the longest in the end, and Hizashi had to knock on her door to tell her to put the phone down and get rest. Their thoughtfulness of ringing her to check up on her meant the world to her and she couldn't help but go to sleep with a smile on her face even after everything that had happened. The dramatic and scary events had only bought her closer to the realisation that she was allowed to have friends and allowed to have people care about her. It was ok to let down her walls.

"Morning" Came a voice she had not expected to hear so soon. She lifted her head and eyed Aizawa-sensei with mild shock as he all but shuffled into the room looking like a zombie. He had been completely covered in bandages, and there were the tiniest slits so that he could see out of it. It was rather a scary sight, as if he had decided to turn up in a Halloween costume. All things considered, she was amazed and glad that he was able to be making homeroom, the fact he was well enough was beyond what they had all expected.

"You're back already sensei?" Eijiro shouted, along with a few others, their voices giving away how shocked they all were.

"What an undeniable pro"

"Glad to see you doing well sensei"

"If you can call that being well…" Ochako gasped nervously.

"My welfare isn't important… because your fight is far from over" Aizawa-sensei announced, his voice just as clipped and bored sounding as it always was. The whole class tensed at his words, and the faces around the room all looked just as nervous and scared as the rest. _What the hell does he mean?_

"Our fight?" Bakugou questioned.

"Huh?" Mika hummed at the same time.

"Don't tell me…" Izuku murmured.

"More villains?" Mineta all but sobbed, turning as white as a sheet.

"U.A's sports festival is fast approaching" Aizawa-sensei deadpanned, making Mika deflate and the nerves left her in one breath as she let her head fall back to the desk. _I so wasn't ready for this…_

"That's totally ordinary" Denki and Sero shouted, obviously expecting something more sinister to be said.

Mika didn't even bother to lift her head back up from the desk, her hand coming up to push her black curls out her face as she tilted her head on the desk towards Izuku. He merely looked over to her and raised his brows as the rest of the class shouted around about how they didn't think they needed to be worrying about a sports festival after what they had all just been through. He mouthed to her 'You ok?' and she smiled back at him. Raising up her hand to give him a less than enthusiastic thumbs up to which he just smiled warmly back down to her. _Heckin adorable._

"It's necessary to demonstrate that U.A's crisis management protocols are sound… compared to past years there'll be five times the police presence. Anyhow, our sports festival is _the_ greatest opportunity you'll get" Aizawa-sensei explained over the moans and groans of the class. Mika sighed and lifted her head back up off the desk and let it fall into her hand as she propped her elbow on the desk in a very bored like fashion. "It's not an event that can be cancelled due to some villains"

"You sure about that?" Mineta shuddered from behind Izuku.

"Mineta… are you telling me that you have never seen the sports festival?" Izuku sounded appalled as she turned in his seat to look at his small perv like classmate.

"Of course, I have, that's not what I mean…"

"Our sports festival is one of Japans biggest events!" Aizawa went on to explain how important it was in the progression of their studies. Mika knew that there would be Pro Heroes watching the festival from either their TV's or actually there in person. There was no better chance in their academic careers to show case their quirks and their skills in mastering them. It was so so important. Her Brother had been going on and on about it for weeks now, but she just had not clicked that it would be so soon.

She remembered going to watch the sports festival last year, her brother letting her sit in with him in the box whilst he did the commentary, much like she knew that he would be doing this same year. _I wonder if he will be able to contain his excitement if I get far in the festival?_ She thought. The image of him screaming down at her from the box making her chuckle internally.

Mika wanted nothing more than to kick some arse and show the world that just because she had a darker start in life, and that just because she had a shadow quirk that made her come across as dark and scary, didn't mean that she couldn't be the world's best Hero. She was going to prove everyone who had ever doubted her wrong. Mika looked back up and woke herself out of her reverie just to hear Aizawa-sensei hyping everyone up.

 **BREAK**

The bell chimed to signal the end of Modern Lit and everyone almost jumped out of their seats ready for lunch time. No one had really got a chance to enthuse about the festival because they had then launched straight into their morning lessons. They had endured Mathematics, to which Mika was thrilled to learn that her previous detention from back chatting Ectoplasm-sensei had been wiped off due to all the incidences at the USJ.

She had been discreetly texting Eijiro all through their English lesson. As much as she loved her Brother and thought he was the coolest most amazing person in the world, he didn't pay much attention to them once he got on a rant about how awesome English was, she could get away with anything. She was able to contribute witty retorts to almost everything that got sent across the group message that had been set up between: Eijiro, Denki, Bakugou and herself. The reality of the messages was that Denki and Eijiro were trying to organise training as a group together and Mika and Bakugou were goading each other across it all. Then when it came time for Modern Lit, their messages died down again. Midnight being a little more perceptive and would give them detentions if she caught them texting each other.

"This has got me so pumped up!" Eijiro threw his fist into the air as Mika packed away her glittery stationary into her battered leather satchel. The others had all jumped up and were busy chattering around her.

"If we show our stuff there, it's one big step towards being Pro" Sero piped up as he moved beside her desk to join the few lads that had crowded around Eijiro's desk beside her own.

"I think this has come at the best time, takes our minds off of what happened…" Mika Interjected from where she was still sat, Sero turned to eye her and offered her a nervous smile. He hadn't really spoken to her before, but he had taken a liking to Denki and Eijiro and so he knew he needed to make an effort to chat to Mika because they all got along with her, so why couldn't he.

"That's true, how are you feeling anyway?" He asked, scratching the back of his head.

"Not too bad thanks, rib still hurts but it's on the mend!" Mika shrugged, for it was true. She reckoned a few more days and the soreness would have dissipated. There was no evidence of the burns or cut on her whatsoever. She breathed and let her bored eyes soak in the vibe around the room. "It's good to see everyone so excited…"

"EVERYONE, IM GOING TO CRUSH THIS" Uraraka shouted to them all of a sudden. The usually adorable bubbly looking girl was glaring at the lads with such ferociousness that Mika had to bite on her tongue to stop from clapping. The fact that she could look so terrifying made Mika like her all the more. Mika stood up and moved around the lads to reach her new friend.

"Oh wow, that's intense" Mika nodded to her with an almost proud nod. The others just sweat dropped at her.

"Talk about inconsistent characterisation" Kirishima huffed.

"Ne, Ochako-chan…" Mika shuffled up to her friend and threw her arm around her in a side hug and leant her head on her shoulder, so she could also send her best fake *terrifying* smile back to the lads. "Let's smash these boys into the dust"

"DON'T CORRUPT HER!" Mineta screamed as he pointed at Mika's black aura as it seemingly swallowed Ochako up.

"Let's train together outside of school sometime Ochako-chan?" Mika ignored the little perv and turned to her friend.

"Oh really?" Ochaco asked, breaking out of her intense persona to throw Mika a glittery eyed wide smile. _So hecking adorable…_

"Yea sure, I can help you with your hand to hand skills?" Mika offered, running a hand through her hair feeling silly for asking. _As if she will want to learn from you Mika…_

"That would be so cool, thanks Mika-chan!" Ochako bowed to Mika with a wide grin before skipping over to Midoriya and IIida to tell them about it all. Mika sent Izuku a small warm smile when he caught her eye and he waved as they set off. Mika span back round and moved to grab her bag from her desk and butting back into Denki and Eijiro's conversation at the same time.

"Heyyyy, we want to train with you too Mika-chan!" Denki pouted as he pouted over at her.

"Well ask super nice and buy me some pocky and I'll think about it" She smirked at him as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder and lead her out the class to lunch. Eijiro, Bakugou and Sero were following behind as they chatted about the training they needed to do all the way to the lunch room.

 **BREAK**

 **New message to the group "Squad"**

Kirishima, E – Dudes… and dudette, let's meet at the gym early before school, get a gym sesh in?

Kaminari, D – Totally down for that, shall I invite Hanta?

Yamada, M – I can do tomorrow morning. Sero is cool, add him in this group message too?

Kaminari, D – I can so do that Mika-hime…

 **Hanta, S added to the group "Squad"**

Kirishima, E **–** Welcome, Hanta… to the manliest group chat!

Sero, H **–** Hey guys, thanks… what's this all for?

Yamada, M **–** We are going to meet in the gym before school, want to come?

Sero, H **–** Oh nice, that sounds great

Bakugou, K **–** Its late… shut the hell up and sleep you idiots, these messages are annoying as fuck!

Mika snorted as she rolled over in her bed, her phone screen illuminating her face in the dark bedroom. She smiled tiredly as everyone sent in their 'see ya tomorrow' messages, not wanting to test Bakugou's temper in case he killed them at the gym tomorrow morning. It had gotten a little late, and she had wanted to sleep earlier, but that had all been thrown out the window and it was all because of her dorky friends. They had been messaging all evening on and off, but Eijiro had finally had enough of them batting around ideas for training and took the initiative to just organise something.

She was just about to place her phone back on her bed side table when she felt it buzz once more. She pulled the screen back up to her face and smiled warmly at the new message.

 **New Message**

 **Midoriya, I –** Hey, I hope you are feeling better? You looked tired today…

 **Reply –** I just need a bit more rest is all, you don't need to worry about me. Are you excited about the Sports Festival?

 **Midoriya, I –** That's good, I'm glad you are ok. It's such an important opportunity to show case our skills, I hope I can do well.

 **Reply –** You will do amazing. All we can do is our best, and after what we've been through its going to be easy.

 **Midoriya, I –** I really hope so. Are you going to be training up your quirk?

 **Reply –** Yeah, Ochako and I are going to do some training together at the weekend, would you like to join us?

 **Midoriya, I –** Only if I wouldn't be intruding? That would be brilliant!

 **Reply –** Of course you wouldn't be intruding… I shall invite Iida tomorrow too. I'm going to sleep now, see you tomorrow Izuku-kun, good night.

 **Midoriya, I –** Sounds like a plan. Goodnight, Mika-chan!


	19. Chapter 19 - Canon Fodder

**Chapter 19 – Cannon Fodder**

It had been a whole week since Aizawa-sensei had hobbled back into their homeroom and explained to them about the Sports Festival. Since then each member of Class 1-A had been working as hard as they could in training ready for it. There was a sense of urgency in everyone, after going through the traumatic events at the USJ, they all knew that they had been lucky. It could have quite easily gone the other way, and while some in the class were enjoying the fame that they had received, they still knew they had to work hard. Everyone had their own near misses in the USJ attack, and it was those near misses that were driving them all forward.

Mika had been training as much as she possibly could and knowing that she would need to train a wide variety of skills, she didn't turn down a single opportunity to train with her classmates. She had met up with Kirishima, Kaminari, Sero and Bakugou every morning before class to use the school gym where they concentrated on weights, and Mika concentrated on her endurance by utilising the running and rowing machines. Then she would use her free periods using the school fields out the back of the school to practice using her quirk.

Then after school she had been meeting up with Midoriya, Iida and Uraraka to train in hand to hand combat. She really enjoyed the hand to hand the most, because Uraraka was working so hard and it was inspiring to watch, and it was bringing Mika and her closer as friends. Midoriya and Iida would always tag along but do their own training, and the two lads had been happy to see the girls bonding so much.

"Ne, Mika-chan… why don't you show us how much you can bench" Denki shouted out to her as her feet pounded away at the running machine below her. She huffed and carried on as she turned her head to where the lads were lifting. Denki had sat down on a bench and was waving over to her, his other hand wiping the sweat from his brow.

"I'm good thanks" She waved him off and turned back to staring at the heart rate monitor before her on the running machine screen.

"Why, scared you can't bench as much as we can?" She heard him shout back over to her and she couldn't help but send him a smirk at his pathetic attempt to get under her skin.

"Shut up Pikachu, you can hardly bench shit either" Bakugou bit at the blond. He was stood in front of a mirror a little way from Denki, curling weights and sending himself a death glare through the reflection before him. He had paused to send Kaminari the most exasperated glare Mika had ever seen him use.

"I know I can bench more than all of you, I don't feel the need to prove it though" She snorted as she slowed her machine down a smidge. Talking whilst running ruined her rhythm.

"With those puny arms, you can't lift near what I can, Curly" She heard Bakugou snarl at her and she felt the vein in her head twitch. _Oh sunshine, I could bench you and Kaminari together when using my quirk…_

"Yes, I can" She snipped.

"No, you can't" He bit back.

"Yes, I can"

"TCH" He turned from her and went back to curling his weights.

"Come on then, Mika-chan… we won't believe you till you show us!" She heard Sero shout over to her from where him and Kirishima were stood laughing at how the hot-headed blond and the cold stone-faced girl had been acting like children.

She had been pushed and now she wanted to prove them all wrong. _So much for being a bigger person, guess I should just be as petty as Bakugou, it would save me a lot of time._

"Fine" Mika sighed as she paused her machine and slowed her running down to a decent walking pace as the machine slowed down to a pause. Once it had almost stopped, she jumped off and grabber her towel, flinging it over her shoulder and using one end to wipe the sweat from her brow. Her black curls were falling from the loose ribbon she had in her hair and sticking to her neck and forehead. She was wearing black gym leggings and a green vest that was cut low under her arms to reveal her sports bra. She had matching green wrist warmers that she had donned to help catch her sweat.

She strode over to the bench and sat down on it, Kirishima, Kaminari, Sero and Bakugou coming to stand around her as she re-tied up her hair.

"Right, so how much do you want me to bench?" She asked once she was ready. She looked up to Kaminari with a half-bored smirk.

"Do the same as Bakugou… dude how much do you bench?" Sero stated, then turning to Bakugou with a raised eyebrow.

"145 pounds" He stated as he puffed his chest out in a show of strength.

"Right, ok then…" Mika mumbled as she got back up and started attaching the correct weights to the bar. Once done she laid down and got herself into position under the bar frame. She closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath. _This is going to be easy, I don't even need to sock up that much shadow energy to do this…_ She held out her hand and pulled in Bakugou's shadow as he was closest, before slamming her hand into a fist once more.

She concentrated in sending all the converted black energy to her arm, back and abdominal muscles and then she opened her eyes, both of them blacked out as she used her quirk. She grabbed the bar and made sure that her hands were comfortable on it, before she winked at Bakugou. She then pushed the bar up and out of the stand and held it just above her chest. She waited a breath before effortlessly raising the bar up, her arms not shaking an inch as she did so.

"What the hell?" Kirishima gushed before shouting excitedly at her. "THAT'S SO MANLY MIKA-CHAN!"

"The hell Curly!" Bakugou huffed, and she couldn't tell if it was in annoyance or surprise.

"WOO" Kaminari whooped as he high fived Sero. She snorted as she slowly dropped the bar and weights back into the stand and sat herself up again. Exhaling the excess black energy out through a puff of smoke from her mouth.

"Why don't you lift weights without your quirk and build up some muscle Mika-chan?" Kirishima asked as she jumped up from the bench and stretched out her arms before her.

"Because I don't want to look like All Might, as much as I admire the man… it's just not my thing, plus I can just use my quirk" She shrugged.

She hadn't realised then that that would be the start of a competition that would be picked up every morning when she met the lads in the gym. They would gather round and watch as she broke her previous record. She had surpassed Bakugou and Kirishima now and she was finally up at weights that were making her break a sweat again. Yet she was pumped up now and there was something about making Bakugou nod in slight aggravated approval that had her wanting to push further.

BREAK

"Another day done!" Mika sighed as she leant back in her chair once her glittery stationary had been packed away. She let her eyes fall over to Izuku who was just standing up from his chair ready to head home.

Midoriya, Iida and Uraraka were taking a break from training after school and all three of them were heading to Mika's to watch a new film that had come out. It was the first time that she was having anyone come back with her to her house. She thought that she would have to beg her brother to let her have friends over, but when she had mentioned it the day before he had all but burst into tears and said that they could come and stay for the week, which was a little obsessive.

It wasn't as if she wasn't bothered by it. She would have preferred to have gone to one of their houses but seen as hers was the first stop on the train that they shared it made sense. So she had invited them round with the promise that her Brother was going to meet friends before his radio show and would therefore be out all evening, because no matter how cool her Brother was, no one wanted to chill with their teacher hanging around.

"You ready to watch this film, Izuku-kun?" She asked as she too made to stand up and push her chair under.

"Is it scary?" He asked with a nervous look in his eye.

"No, I don't think so, it's supposed to be an action adventure kind of film… so shouldn't be scary" Mika offered as she slung her bag over her shoulder.

"Nice, thank you so much for inviting us again" He smiled warmly to her, his cheeks tinting light pink. _Oh damn, adorable._

Mika and Izuku wandered over to where Tenya and Ochako were stood by the door waiting for them. Mika shuffled ahead and flashed Ochako a genuine smile as the bubbly girl pushed the door aside. Yet before either girl could pass through, they came across a wall of students crowded around the doorway. Mika immediately felt her smile melt from her face and at the sight of all the people she didn't know staring at her she let her trademark bored expression fall over her features and her arms cross over her chest as she regarded each face with a scowl.

"Woahhhhh" Ochako gushed from beside her as she took a tentative step backwards.

"No way out… what are they here for?" Mineta gasped as he hid himself behind Midoriya.

"Scouting out the competition, _duh,_ small fry!" Bakugou bit as he strode past them all and right up to the doorway beside Mika. He paused beside her and carried on talking as if all the people outside the room couldn't hear every word he was saying as he glared them out. "Cuz we're the kids who survived a villain attack."

"Makes sense they'd want a look before the sports festival" Mika added, giving a particularly shitty looking boy a snarl as he looked her up and down.

"No point though, move aside cannon fodder!" Bakugou blandly called out to the faces looking in. Class 1-A practically facepalmed and rolled their eyes at his blatant lack of manners.

"Can we please not resort to calling those that we do not know 'Cannon Fodder'!" Mika heard Iida shout out to Bakugou, but it was pointless to try and talk sense to the hot-headed blond. Mika was actually on his side anyway; it wasn't as if all those looming outside their class had come to wish them luck. This was them scoping out who they thought they could take down in the sports festival, showing weakness would get you nowhere, and Bakugou knew this. Mika looked to Bakugou who merely gave her a sideways look and she gave him an imperceptible nod.

"Why not, Tenya-kun… they are only steppingstones in our way to the top" She stated, her bored eyes roaming over the affronted faces as she flicked a black curl over her shoulder.

"Woah, Mika-chan?" She heard Izuku gasp from behind her. "That's not helping!"

"It's true, we came to get a look, but you two sure are modest…" Came a rather tired and scratchy sounding voice. The crowd parted a little before the doorway and a tall tired looking lad shoved his way through. He had mad bags under his eyes as he levelled them with a bored look to rival Mika's and his light purple/grey hair was messily shoved away from his face. "Those of us who didn't make the Hero Course are stuck in general studies and the other tracks. There're quite a few of us. Did you know that?"

"Does it matter?" Mika huffed, and shifted her weight onto her left hip in impatience. The purple haired boy set his gaze on her then and she gave him her best unaffected smirk.

"We found out today that, depending on the results of the sports festival they might consider transferring us to the Hero Course…" He explained and Mika realised that they were all hoping to get into their class. _Surely they can't just keep adding people into our class… oh I see now._ She let her glare deepen as he continued. "I understand the reverse is also possible for you… scouting out competition for a general studies kid like me… This'll be the perfect chance to knock you off your pedestals, consider this a declaration of war"He finished setting his eyes between Mika and Bakugou.

"Are you quite done?" Mika yawned, readjusting her bag strap as she elbowed Bakugou. He levelled her a quick sneer.

"HEY!" Mika jumped a little at the sudden shout from out behind the crowd in the hallway. A Steel grey haired lad jumped up and started pushing his way through too. He had an intense face with some super long grey eyelashes that made him look even more pissed. "I'm from Class 1-B next door, I heard you guys fought some villains and wanted to find out more but… All I'm seeing are these arrogant bastards!" He finished pointing right at Bakugou and Mika. Mika merely let her smirk deepen at his insult, Bakugou just stared blankly at him.

"I've had enough of this shit…" Bakugou hissed under his breath before stalking forwards and trying to shove his way through the crowd Mika silently following behind and letting him do all the work.

"WAIT, you jerk. What're you doing to us?" Kirishima shouted at Bakugou before sending an annoyed look to Mika. "You too Mika-chan"

"Thanks to you guys we've got a whole mob of haters now!" Kaminari chipped in, looking ready to cry.

"I don't give a crap" Bakugou threw back over his shoulder at them. "I'm heading for the top, why should I care" Then he set off again through the crowd, elbowing them out the way. Mika followed behind him excited to get rid of all the judgey eyes on her. She knew that she would have pissed people off too, but why did they feel the need to be so forward and rude like that. Looking in at them like they were fish ready to be pulled out of their tank and eaten. It had riled her up and she just wanted to be away from it all. She made sure to throw her head over her shoulder and shouted back to Midoriya, Iida and Uraraka.

"I'll meet you guys by the gate!"


	20. Chapter 20 - Deal

**Chapter 20 – Tumble**

"Oniichan?" Mika called out.

"Uhuh" Hizashi called back from where he was drying up the dishes from their dinner.

Mika had cooked and therefore it was his turn to clear away. That was normally how dinner time went for them anyway, they took it in turns. Hizashi hated cooking and he always tried to get Mika to do it, but she loved the way her Oniichan cooked chicken teriyaki and therefore they had to come to an agreement of sorts. Mika was sat in the lounge with the TV remote in her hand as she flicked over all the channels, not really watching what was coming on as she just flicked through them all. Her brain was too wired with all the stress and worry of training up for the Sports Festival.

She had been training alone all week, which was a contrast to how she had been training the week before. After the incident with the crowd outside their classroom, everyone had realised that even though they were a class, they would still be competing against each other in the festival and if their places in Class 1-A were being threatened by those who wanted to transfer into it, then they needed to up their game. Everyone had started training on their own, even Ochako had turned to Mika and thanked her for all her help but suggested not training together again.

It was odd for Mika. It was not something that she was used to at all. She had never ever been one to join in in her last school. Granted she hadn't attended long enough to make proper friends for she joined half way through a year and once everyone had already made their friendship groups. She had been left out of everything and had never been included. Therefore, training with everyone was something completely new to her and she had been thoroughly enjoying it.

She would be lying if she told herself she wasn't coming out of her shell. She knew it was happening and she could feel the lonely and lost child within her screaming at her to stop and to throw up her walls, but she just couldn't let them go at once. She had let her first lines of defence down around so many of her Classmates now, so to have them stop training together and for her to then go it alone was a feeling she had never had to deal with before. She didn't like it, but she knew that it was the best way, and that they should all have realised to begin with. Yet there was a very large part of her that was sad that she couldn't train with her friends. She had enjoyed being around them all far too much and she was missing the camaraderie.

"You're still friends with the people you were in UA with, right?" She asked in an off handed tone. Her Brother paused what he was doing and looked over his shoulder to her through the doorway. His eyes catching the way she was silently staring down at the remote in her hand with a worried look on her face.

"Yeah, why?" He hummed as he turned back to the sink before him waiting for her response.

"Just wandering" She mumbled back and that wasn't the answer he was hoping for.

"What's up, Kiddo?" He asked as he appeared in the doorway, his eyes narrowed in on her lost in thought expression.

"It's just… I don't know" She sighed, not really knowing how to voice her thoughts without making her sound like a moaning three-year-old that had had her favourite toy taken away from her.

"After the Sports Festival it will go back to normal" Hizashi smiled down at his sister, catching onto what he thought might have been the problem. He had noticed that she hadn't been training with her friends through the week and that she had been a little more like her old self because of it.

"I hope so, I was just getting used to them all…" She sighed.

He knew more than anyone the kind of pressure and strain the Sports Festival put on the students. He remembered going through them himself. He pushed off from the doorframe and moved to playfully slap his gloved hand on her head. The suds from the washing up splattering across her black curls. She made an indignant noise before shoving him away with a half amused half exasperated expression.

"I like your friends" He chuckled down at her.

"Which ones?" She asked, peering up at him, with a look that was more childlike than he had ever seen her.

"All of them, because they are making you happy, and that's a green light in my book!" He insisted. "Although that Bakugou is a crazy mad kid"

"He's not that bad, if you know how to act around him" She snorted.

It was true really, she knew how to wind him up like an absolute treat, but she also knew how his brain worked. For hers worked kind of in a similar way, she thought. They both wanted to become the best heroes and to prove all those that thought they weren't suited to it wrong. They wanted to make their idols proud, and they wanted to be stronger, better and faster than everyone else. She understood him a little in that way and that was enough.

"If you say so, Kiddo" He rolled his eyes.

 **BREAK**

Mika strolled into the U.A school gym first thing before their Friday morning homeroom. She had made it with enough time to get 45 minutes on the treadmill and she had her mind set on keeping her pace up and maybe pushing for a faster last ten minutes to really wear her out.

She had shoved herself into her usual gym attire of black leggings with her green vest and sports bra. She had worked her mad crazy black curls into a braid that ran down to the back of her head and fell to the small of her back, her green ribbon knotted at the end of it. She had her headphones plugged into her ears, already playing music she knew she could set a good pace too, all the while humming to herself.

She hadn't realised anyone else was in the gym at all, so the fact that Midoriya was in the back corner curling some hefty weights didn't even cross her vision as she strode with purpose over to the running machine.

Mika jumped on and before the song she was listening to made the first chorus she was pressing at the buttons on the machine, trying to get started. She felt the treadmill beneath her start to roll, making her lurch into a slow walk. Once she got the pace up and she was slowly jogging she let her mind wander away from the treadmill screen before her, and into her own daydream.

She felt ready, she didn't feel all that nervous for the sports festival that was quickly encroaching, with it being only three days away. Mika wanted nothing more than to let her quirk really go at something, and the sports festival was the best place to do it. Her Oniichan had been keeping his mouth shut tight about what they would be facing in their festival, but she knew it was definitely going to be something that pushed her. She was ready for it though. All her life she had been training, improving, enhancing, adapting. Training for the sports festival was no different. She was good at channelling her mind to self-improvement for it was all she had drilled into her from an early age.

Nothing was perfect, there was always room for improvement.

… _You're mine._

The voice of her Father flashed across her mind and she subconsciously started slamming her feet a little harder into the treadmill below her.

He had always looked at her like she wasn't complete, like there was something missing. She had spent her childhood chasing his back as he walked away from her. She thought that being better, stronger, faster, cleverer would make him turn back around and show her affection. Affection that she craved, but never ever got. He pushed her constantly, always telling her she needed to improve, that her moves weren't perfect, that her quirk wasn't quite there yet. It had driven her up the wall then, and the left over need to be better was what drove her mad even now.

She huffed and slammed her fist onto the button to pick up the pace, and she started full pelt running. She knew she wouldn't be able to keep up the sprint for long, not without the help of her quirk, but that wasn't what she wanted now.

She wanted to feel her pathetic leg muscles burning, she wanted to feel her chest heaving and her lungs calling for a break. She wanted her head to thrum with the effort, because then she knew she was giving her all, then she knew that she was close to being better, faster, stronger.

 _Is that all that you've got…_

Mika heard her Fathers voice in her head once more. She slammed her fist down once more, her breaths ripping out from her chest now as she sprinted to keep up with the treadmill. The song blaring through her headphones droned out into the background too, which would normally be impossible granted how loud she loves to listen to her music whilst in the gym. The words of the tune were disappearing out of her concentration as she pictured herself running laps of the stone garden of the place she used to call home.

She could hear her Father shouting at her.

Then she could hear the voices of all the people that had ever doubted her after her Brother had taken her in. They were weighing her down and she could feel her hands shaking and she knew it was nothing to do with the exertion. She was pissed, and running wasn't making it feel any better. The pit in her stomach opened up as her mind jumped to Mineta's comment on the bus to the USJ all that time ago now.

 _You look more like a villain with a face like that, Yamada-san_

"Mika-chan…"

She sucked in a quick shallow breath as she felt her eyes tear up a little at the thought that someone could think she would be better suited to be a villain than a hero. After everything she had been through it would have been easy for her to give up on her dream of being a hero. She could have given up and not used her quirk for anything. She could have quite of easily gone the other way too, and that was what upset her the most. That there was a part of her that knew there was a point in her past that could have switched her. That would have sent her down the wrong path and then she really would have been a villain.

"Mika-chan?"

"DAMN IT!" She snapped at the voices in her head.

The thought of people being scared of her made her slam her fist down on the speed button again, but she missed, and the momentum had her stumbling forwards and losing her footing. She dropped and braced as her knee hit the treadmill and she got flung off the back of it.

What she hadn't realised was that Izuku had picked up on her distress from across the room and had seen her getting more and more agitated. He had started to really worry when she began to hit at the machine she was on, looking like she was about to cry. It was the most emotion he had ever seen on her face at one time. The fact that him and the others had started to get smiles out of her had made him feel amazing, the cold and bored looking girl was warming to them all. When he had met her, he knew that she was a caring person, all her sulking and frowning couldn't cover that up. He had wanted to see more of her emotions, but not like that. She looked like she was having an internal battle and loosing.

He had placed his weights back and had made it to her just in time to see her move to slam her fist on the machine and miss. He was stood right behind the machine, which was his first mistake, when she lost her footing and fell onto her knees on the treadmill. She was shot backwards and straight into his legs sending him toppling.

"WOAH" He gasped as he fell over Mika and onto his hands and knees over her.

"Izuku-kun?" Mika gasped as she laid sprawled out on the floor. She pulled her headphones out of her ears as she tried to catch her breath. Her wide emerald eyes flew up to meet his own green eyes, and at seeing how close he was she turned the brightest shade of red known to humankind. He immediately launched himself backwards and off from hoovering over her. He jumped to his feet and nervously offered her a hand.

She shakily took it and let him pull her up to her own feet where she then took to shuffling like she had been caught dancing nude in her room.

"Sorry." She finally muttered.

"No no no, it was my fault..." Izuku insisted, by waving one hand frantically around before him, while the other came up so he could hide his face in the crook of his arm. Then he peered out from it seeing how Mika was trying to cover up her emotions by letting her bored expression slip over her features and the sight of her doing it made his resolve a little stronger. He placed a careful hand on her arm and smiled enquiringly down to her. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I didn't hurt myself…" She tried, knowing deep down that he didn't mean if she was ok after her embarrassing fall from the treadmill.

"That's not what I meant" He interjected, letting the arm that was covering his face fall back down to his side as he looked down at her. "I saw you running, and you looked angry… and then upset, kinda?"

"Oh… just got a lot on my mind, but I'm ok" She blushed at being caught showing so much emotion without knowing. _Nice one Mika, you got all worked up and now Izuku is looking at you like you're broken._ A new feeling hit her in the stomach like a brick, the feeling of warmth as someone other than her Brother noticed her, really noticed her, and how she was feeling. It felt nice, like that part of her that was living for other people was starting to stretch outwards past herself again. She looked to Izuku as he watched her and she couldn't help but feel equal parts glad that he had come over to see if she was ok, and equal parts nervous to make sure that she put on a good face to show him that she was in fact fine.

The sports festival was stressing her out, and not because she didn't think she was strong enough, she had been training just as hard as everyone else. If not for longer. The stress was there due to the strange dynamic that had fallen over the class and her friends. She didn't like it, and she didn't want it to be stuck like that forever. She wanted everyone to get along, and she wanted to let the class slowly pull her out of her shell. She was hoping that they would make her better.

His eyes followed hers as she looked around to make sure that there wasn't anyone else in the gym that had witnessed her blunder. Yet it was just them, they were the only people in the whole place and she didn't know if that made her feel better or not. She looked back at him and felt her cheeks heat up even more becoming increasingly away that he had left a hand on her arm, the place where it rested against her skin was now unbearably hot. _Damn it, Mika!_

"I get it though, all this training for the Sports Festival can feel a bit too much, huh?" Izuku tried, scratching the back of his head again before continuing, his eyes looking more confident. "But, it's these tests that will make us stronger, and turn us into amazing heroes"

"Do you think?" Mika asked tentatively back. _You are such a contradiction Izuku, one minute you are a stuttering (but cute) mess, the next you look like you could take on the world._ "Will everyone go back to normal afterwards too?"

"What do you mean?" He asked, looking at her confused.

"Everyone is so tense, and no one is as close as I thought they were getting… so I uh, was just worried that… you know, this edge would stay even after the festival?" She asked more than stated, letting her eyes fall to the floor. She hated how nervous she sounded but opening up to people was something she just wasn't used to. She knew she needed to learn though, that was why she was trying so hard. It did help that Izuku made it so easy. His eyes just drew people in and promised care and attention.

"I kind of get what you are saying… everyone is concentrating on the competition instead of getting along… I think it's only normal, everything will be fine once it's done and over!" Izuku countered, nodding along as he spoke. "It's to be expected though, for everyone" He smiled to her, his kind smile that made his eyes close and his cheeks dimple a little.

"You're so adorable Izuku-kun" Mika whispered as she huffed and set to turning off the Treadmill and grabbing her towel and bottle of water. Leaving Izuku staring at her like she had just grown another head. He really wasn't used to her compliments, especially seen as she was calling him cute. "Let's get ready for Homeroom, ne?"


	21. Chapter 21 - Declaration of War

Chapter 21 – Declaration of War

"Yeah but my question is – how much cake do you have in your pockets?" Denki asked Sato as he leaned across one of the prep tables.

Mika rolled her eyes at the question as her head rested on the table. Her hair was ready and tied up in her favourite green ribbon, her UA sports kit on and pressed to within an inch of its life from where she had been stress ironing the previous night.

The whole of Class 1-A had been cooped up in the prep room for 45 minutes and everyone was starting to get tense, which was exactly why Mika had laid her head down on the table and was trying to tune it all out. That was beginning to get increasingly difficult with Denki asking stupid annoying questions left right and centre. She could feel the red-hot rage that was flowing of Bakugou who had also sat himself down at her table just from being so close to Denki the idiot in action.

"What does it matter?" Sato sighed, obviously done with Denki too.

"Of course, it matters… its cheating!" Denki gasped.

"Cheating?"

"Yeah – how come I don't get to take batteries out with me?" Denki countered.

"Oh my god… shut the hell up" Mika finally cracked. She lifted her head to give Denki the biggest roll of her eyes that she could muster. He merely puffed his cheeks out at her and leaned further across the table to try and poke at Sato's pockets to see how much cake he had stored up in them. When Sato slapped his hand away, he looked back to Mika with an affronted look as if she would step in and help him prove his point. When she merely raised her brows at him, he sighed and fell back into his chair, crossing his arms in a huff. "I'm just saying…"

"You are just saying a load of crap, do you ever shut your mouth?" Bakugou chimed in.

"I think it's a nerves thing, he talks so much because he doesn't want us to know he's bricking himself for the festival" Mika smirked, winking at Denki when he gasped at her accusation.

"I am not!"

"You so are…" Sato added with a huge grin, liking the fact that Mika had managed to turn the tables on Denki so he could not pick on him instead.

She let out another sigh when Denki and Sato got back into it and leaned her head back down on the table, absent-mindedly watching as the rest of the class chatted and moved around the room. That was until she saw the half and half arse making a bee line for Izuku's table from across the room. She could tell by the glare on his face and the way his shoulders were set that he was planning on doing something.

She nudged Bakugou's foot under the table to get his attention. She knew that he would be all over a fight starting, and as much as she had grown to really like Izuku, he was a genuine friend of hers, she knew he needed to stick up for himself. Otherwise everyone in the class would walk all over him.

"The fuck curly… not got enough room for your cow hooves over there?" Bakugou barked at her.

"Shut up sunshine… just thought you'd want front seats to whatever is kicking off over there…" She replied in her trademark bored tones as she flicked her hair over her shoulder, sat up and pointed to where half and half was all but squaring up to Izuku. Bakugou's eyes turned from furious to angrily intrigued as he began to tune into the conversation.

Mika joined in as she watched Todoroki shove one hand into his pocket, angry eyes bearing down at Izuku.

"Objectively speaking… I'm stronger than you, more capable" She heard Todoroki state. She couldn't help but snort. _What a cocky little shit, what is his problem…_ She watched as Izuku's face paled a little and jolted, he obviously was not expecting to be started on. She could feel the intensity of Bakugou's gaze beside her, along with the others around her as they all began to sense the tension in the air surrounding their two classmates.

"Huh?... s-sure?" Izuku stuttered.

"All Might's got his eye on you, doesn't he…" Mika tilted her head at that statement. _He does?_ She looks from Izuku who sports a panicked look for all but a second before Todoroki continues. "Now I'm not about to pry into why that is, but… I will beat you!" He stated, a few members of the class gasping.

It felt like it was quiet enough to hear a pin drop, she turned a little to look at Bakugou who was looking at the pair as if he wanted to rip both their faces off. Mika rolled her eyes at the pure dramatism of the class. _Why is everyone always so quick to gang up on each other? Why not just give each good luck and move on…_

She supposed that it wasn't all that surprising though with how everyone had been acting after the other classes had been waiting outside their class to 'case the class' for weak links. Everyone had been so tense and working so hard to train by themselves. Even the closest of pals in the class had been going at it on their own. It was getting to be all a bit too much for her and she found herself wiling the day to be over so they could get over themselves and just get on again.

"Ooohhh! A declaration of war from the strongest in the class?" Denki piped up, looking nervously at the pair.

"What a joke…" Mike hissed under her breath as she turned her back into her seat and away from Todoroki. She could feel her dislike for him growing with every second, he just had no tact and no tasteful way of dealing with his own problems. She wasn't the poster child for unproblematic youth, but the way he held himself and felt the need to look down on everyone rubbed her the wrong way and she wanted nothing than to beat him into the ground during the festival. Show him that he shouldn't be worrying about Izuku, he should be worrying about her. She knew that by the red and fuming aura that had settled around Bakugou that he was thinking the exact same thing.

"Hey man, why pick a fight now? We're just about to go on…" Eijiro reasoned, moving to place his hand on Todoroki to defuse some of the attention, Mika felt her temper getting the better of her so started to tap her foot on the ground as she closed her eyes. A tight nit frown appearing over her features.

"I really don't care…" Came half and half's blunt response. "I'm not pretending to be anyone's friend here!" His tone was bitter, as if the very notion of him making friends with the rest of the class was the utmost last thing he would ever want to do. Not that he had even tried to get to know any of them, he had spent all his time lurking at the back of the class and just disappearing. He had made no effort and for someone like Mika that didn't necessarily want to put herself out there but did anyway it frustrated her no end. She felt her frown deepen and before she could even help herself, she had let out a rather loud Bakugou styled 'Tch'.

"You can say that again!" Mika snorted.

"I wasn't talking to you…" Todoroki bit back over his shoulder at her. Mika couldn't help but smirk, it always tasted sweeter when the fish took the bait. She didn't even bother to turn to him to address him while responding, she knew it would wind him up all the more. With Bakugou and Denki next to her she knew that if Todoroki was stupid enough to go for her they would step in, not that she needed it, but it was always nice to know her back was covered.

"Oh sorry, I just presumed your unnecessary need to declare war on your classmate in front of the whole class, was a cry for attention"

"Mika…" Denki warned her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"I don't need to be talked down to by you, must you always meddle where you aren't wanted" Todoroki took a step back to face her, his eyes glaring daggers into the back of her head, as if he could set her black curls on fire with just his stare alone.

Mika had had enough though, enough of the stress of training for the festival after the trauma they had all been through with the USJ attack. She had had enough of her classmates all treating each other like chess pieces, that could be easily wiped off the board at any minute. She had had enough of being lonely, she wanted friends, she wanted the friends that she was starting to make and get used to, stay as friends. She didn't want all this aggravation, especially from someone who was obviously so against being 'nice' to any of them. There was no need for his behaviour in Mika's mind. _This arse has obviously never heard of the saying: if you don't have anything nice to say, then shut the heck up._

"What did you expect – don't talk bull and not expect someone to pick you up on it!" She drawled, turning a fraction of an inch so that she could flash him her bored and unaffected look over her shoulder at him. "There are plenty people in this room that would like to beat you into the ground too, you know…" In that instance Bakugo turned up the heat in his eyes, both of them glaring the half and half arse down.

"Todoroki!" Izuku cut back across, just as half and half looked as though he was about to respond. The whole class let their eyes fly from Mika and Todoroki to Izuku. "I'm not sure why you felt the need to tell me you are going to beat me… you're clearly stronger, and I can't measure up to most of the others here in skill… objectively speaking even…" Mika felt her glare that hadn't left Half and Half harden as Izuku's words filled the room. He didn't need this, he was just trying to do his best and this idiot was trying to psych him out. She wanted to jump in and stand up for him, tell him that he was just as amazing as anyone else in the room but Kirishima being the sunshine that he was, beat her to it.

"Don't be so negative, Midoriya. There's no need for it…" He has started before Izuku interrupted back. He took a step forwards and clenched his fists, his face looking equal parts intense and terrified.

"BUT… everyone, even the kids from the other classes are aiming for the top. I'm… well let me say this, I'm not gonna fall behind" He stated, looking up at Todoroki with a new fire in his eyes, she could see it setting alight and burning bright in his emerald eyes and it made her grin a little. _GO IZUKU!._ "I'm going for it too, with everything I've got!"

BREAK

This was the moment that they had all been waiting for all morning.

It had been mere minutes since everyone had watched Izuku stand up for himself against the self-centred and pig-headed Todoroki. Mika had applauded, along with a few others at Izuku's words of defiance, which saw Todoroki back into his mopey corner of shadows. Everyone was just starting to feel a little more relaxed when an announcement through the room told them to make their way into the first year's arena.

Mika had jumped up and started to roll her shoulders. She didn't want to wait around as she strode for the door that was to lead them out into the wide scary festival. She knew if she were to fall back and wait any longer then her nerves would become too much, and she would start to show just how much she was bricking the event. Yet she had been training for weeks now, and yes she knew that she was more than capable and able to overcome what they would be throwing at them, but that didn't make it all the less nerve wracking.


	22. Chapter 22 - Jerk

Chapter 22 – Jerk

"It's U.A's sports festival!" Mika heard her brothers overly excited voice ring out across the stadium. Mika sighed and shook her head as she strode out of the tunnel and into the madness. There were spotlights zooming to catch them all as they entered the stadium, news cameras were recording, and paparazzi cameras were flashing, and she couldn't believe just how must like a fish in a tank she felt. She had never even thought about it like this when watching the year before, but she finally understood why so many of the competitors bit the dust like they did. The stress and nerves of the whole event must have been way too much.

Mika sucked in a deep breath and carried on walking out towards the centre of the stadium with the rest of the class. If she wasn't so worried about calming her nerves and maintaining her bored expressions, she would have laughed at the way they were all striding out like they were in a movie about to show down with the villain. All of them wearing varying degrees of shock, awe and nervousness.

"It's the one time each year when our fledgling heroes compete in a ruthless grand battle!" Present Mic was announcing, his voice making every word as dramatic as he possibly could. "First up… you know who I'm talkin' about!"

The whole of the class flinched as even more lights and cameras seemed to find them, cheers began erupting and a few of them spotted that they had appeared bright and large in the humungous screens dotted around the top edge of the stadium to give those up in the gods a better view.

"The First years of the hero course… ITS CLASS A!" Her Brother all but screamed. The stadium erupted into cheers louder than Mika could have ever imagined and she felt herself tense at the experience. Her scowl was permanently in place, Kirishima was all but bouncing next to her and on her other side Bakugou was all but sizzling with anticipation.

"They're really giving us too much credit… but we won't let it shake us right Bakugou" Kirishima grinned and shrugged with a slight nervousness crease in his brow all the same. Mika raised a brow at him as her eyes slid to Bakugou who seemed to make his devilish grin deepen.

"Nope, just gets me pumped!" Katsuki all but snarled.

"Jeez Sunshine – you look like you're just about to each a child" Mika deadpanned, and when he merely just glared at her she smirked to him.

Even though he was slightly terrifying, the passion in Bakugou's eyes was starting to make Mika feel her own urgency build in her chest. The need to win and the need to surpass everyone else. She could be painfully competitive, no matter how hard she tried there was always that voice in the back of her head pushing her further, telling her that coming anything but first was a failure. It was something that pushed her over far too many limits as a child and would continue too. She couldn't help it though and as they all came to stand before the centre of the stadium, she could feel the unaffected grin easing its way onto her face. She needed this, all the stress and all the anxiety of training and the animosity that she had been trying to navigate had been building up on her, growing like vines on her and now the day was finally here. She would be able to slam her way through the festival, all the way to the top.

She sucked in a deep breath and flexed her fingers. _Ready._

"Now for the athlete's oath!" Came Midnight-sensei's voice from before them, ringing out with the crack of her whip in the air before them. She appeared and beamed down at the students. Mika couldn't help but let her mouth drop at the outfit their teacher was wearing.

Midnight stood before the stadium, the world even, but mainly before over a hundred teenagers in what could only be described as underwear and heels. Mika couldn't help but have to double take, it really was nowhere near appropriate but who was she to judge. The rest of the audience were having a harder time keeping their thoughts to themselves as shouts about her being R-rated and wolf whistles were filtering down.

"SHUT IT!" Midnight snapped, the whip cracking across the air before her making the stadium fall into silence and also making some of the students before her jump a little. Midnight glared around the stadium daring anyone to wolf whistle one more time before sighing and continuing. "Your student representative is from Class 1-A's Katsuki Bakugou!" She announced.

Mika lightly punched his shoulder as he set off to sidestep through the class to reach the stage.

"Whaaa? It's Kacchan?" Izuku stuttered, as his face paled a little. Mika snorted at the adorable boys reaction. _Is it that hard to believe…?_

"Must be because he placed first in the entrance exam…" Seru thought out loud.

"The hero course entrance exam, you mean!" A short snappy retort came over from the group of other classes surrounding them and Mika immediately felt her back go up. The girl who had spoken looked down her nose at Izuku and then let her angry eyes skim over the whole of Class 1-A. Mika knew that there was hostility between the classes, the show of all the students crowding their class room all those days ago had showed her that. Yet for the girl to be so rude, why shouldn't they get a little recognition. They had taken the hardest entrance exam in the school and had almost been wiped out by a villain attack. Mika rounded herself to fully face the girl, Eijiro tugging at her elbow to pull her back round. Her eyes bored a hole through the girl's head and when she finally got to Mika she paled a little. Mika smirked and winked before twisting back round.

"Pipe down over there before you go and hurt our feelings, ne?" Mika said over her shoulder as sickly sweet as she could.

The girl shuffled back behind a few of her friends and shivered. Mika knew that what she had said had not helped to bridge the gap between the classes, but she couldn't help it. When people were rude or aggressive in their mannerisms, she couldn't help but bite back. A shadow of the life she had been subjected to before living with her brother.

"You're bloody terrifying sometimes Mika-chan" Eijiro sighed, as she chuckled beside him. Her eyes looked from her red spikey haired friend, to see the concern in his eyes. It hit her like a brick.

 _To him you just looked like a villain…_

She let her smirk drop and she let her eyes fall to the ground before her. She didn't want that. A pain in her chest rolled over.

She wanted to be a hero, that was why she was here. That was why she was so proud and protective. That's why she hated it when even after everything she had been through to get where she was, people still degraded her and those she cared about. She had never had friends before, never had the kind of support that they gave and she was beginning to become fiercely protective.

Eijiro saw the drop in her shoulders and huffed, pulling her arm through his as he turned to looked up at what Bakugou had to say. Mika let a small smile pull at her features as she leaned on her friend before also looking up to Bakugou.

"The athlete's oath…" He started in his gruff voice, everyone fell deadly silent. All eyes on the first year. "… MAKE NO MISTAKE ABOUT IT. I'M GONNA TAKE FIRST PLACE!"

Mika couldn't help but crack a smile as chaos erupted around her. She knew that no matter how much of a dick she had just appeared in-front of her friends, it was nothing compared to what Bakugou just did. She felt the laughter bubbling up from her stomach as her own class shouted up at him in complete shock.

The crowd could be herd 'boo'ing over the top of the shouts around her and Mika just couldn't stop laughing.

"DON'T GET COCKY CLASS A!"

"Why must you show contempt for the dignity of this event?" She could hear Iida shouting.

"You dirty bastard!"

Mika watched through laughter as Bakugou glowered down at the crowd that was cussing him out, and subtly ran his thumb over this throat at them.

"You'll all make great stepping-stones!" He deadpanned before stepping back from the microphone and heading back down the steps.

Everyone was shouting at him, but he simply shoved his hands in his pockets and sauntered back over to stand beside Eijiro and Mika, knocking through Izuku's shoulder as he went. Upon reaching them, Bakugou spotted the beaming smile coming from Mika and smirked at her.

It was nice, even though she knew she needed to play better with others and be more considerate to other feelings when they weren't in line with her own. It was nice to be able to understand exactly where Bakugou was coming from. He was so fiercely ready to prove himself as the world's best Hero no matter what anyone thought about him, and yeah he was a bit extreme but Mika knew that feeling of wanting nothing more than to be a Hero and not the villain everyone always compares you to.

"Overconfident jerk, I'll be the one to crush him!" Another angry call came over the others, yet it only made the fire in Bakugo's eyes deepen.

"You happy with how that went, sunshine?" Mika asked Katsuki as the crowd got calmed down by Midnight sensei. Mika leaned in to bump shoulders with him and for once he didn't dodge to miss her. His face was as stern, and she hadn't seen that amount of drive in his eyes since the villain attack at the USJ. It pumped her up and made her forget about her fumble earlier.

"Damn right I am, you too curly… I'm going to beat you into the ground!"

"Wouldn't expect anything else, sunshine!" She smirked back at him.

"You two are hopeless…" Eijiro sighed dramatically beside them.

"Without any delay, let's get the first event started… These are the qualifiers!" Midnight-sensei began, pointing up to the large screens that were above all the crowd. Mika let her eyes dart to them, eager to pick up any information that was given. She was so ready now, she could feel it in her bones, the readiness to wipe the floor with everyone stood in the arena with her.

"It's in this stage that so many are sent home crying every year… and the fateful first event this year is…" Midnight-sensei was loving the tension of her pauses, her eyes gleaming over the crowd of eager and nervous students. The screens burst into life then with the event title on them, and everyone gasped and or cheered. "…THIS!"

 _ **Obstacle Course Race!**_


	23. Chapter 23 - Strings

Chapter 23 – Like Strings

It was one of those streets that looked like every other street in the suburbs of Tokyo. Crooked houses that had been added to with boxy extensions with plant boxes and pots overflowing. The greenery was a refreshing splash against the white and grey facades. A pathway wide enough for three people to walk side by wide was all that separated neighbour's properties, with only a very small number of houses having enough space out the front of their houses for a scooter let alone cars.

For the middle of the day the street was uncharacteristically quiet, there were no shoppers bustling about using the street as a shortcut to the train station, no vendors pulling their smaller carts through in the opposite direction. There were no younger children out playing, or elderly women chatting across the street from their windows.

It was quiet.

Everyone was either inside in front of their tv or sat in front of their family or friends TV. Most people stayed at home from work and school if they could. For today was the UA Sports Festival and there was nothing more amazing to watch. 139, Sagamihara, Kanagawa was no different, but so different all at once.

The house was small, but not the smallest on the street, with its imported wisteria climbing up the front in purple bursts of flowers and the window boxes overflowing with mint and all manner of herbs. The place stood tall and had until recently been the most well-kept house on the street. It boasted two decent sized bedrooms and a modern open plan kitchen and lounge that most families would envy. The modest TV was on, the sound up so loud that the glasses in the cabinets in the kitchen were rattling against each other.

A middle-aged balding man in a stained work shirt sat in the armchair, a younger man with a wild untamed mess of deep purple and pink hair, with a ripped black hoody sat on the floor cross legged smiling up at the tv. The middle-aged man's wife, with her limp long brown curls and crumpled sundress, sat on the sofa.

The TV was the only source of light in the room, the blinds had been pulled for days now and the lights had been pulled apart, bulbs smashed and left on the floor for anyone to tread on. There was food everywhere, cans, packets, plates and cutlery all lying about, festering. No effort to stay tidy or clean had been made in at least a week. The whole place smelt mouldy and rotten, yet there they all sat.

"Isn't this amazing!" The young man shouted, his red rimmed pink eyes wide and glassy as he watched every second unravel on the screen before him. When he received no response, his face split into a sneer and he turned his eyes around to the man and women behind him, both their faces devoid of any emotion or any semblance that they were present at all.

"I said… Isn't. This. Amazing" Every word was precise and spat before the couple. He tilted his head at them in a tugging motion, concentration falling over his features and before he could let out his frustrated breath the couple began to smile widely at him, everything apart from their void black eyes looked joyous.

"Of, course… amazing" The women cracked.

"Ok, now finish your drink" The young man waved his hand at her as he turned back around. The women unblinkingly bought her glass of water up to her face and started to pour. The water flowed from the cup and into her open mouth before spilling back out onto her lap.

The young man's attention had been piqued when the obvious show of bravado had appeared on the screen. The boy with spikey blond hair and fiery eyes made him sit up a little straighter. His eyes were trained on his every movement. They way to boy sauntered to the stage, the way he stood before the mic with an over-confident slouch, and the way his eyes were narrowed in such a fierce manner that it looked like the boy was trying to slice through the crowd before him.

It was interesting.

It was new.

He hadn't seen such a look on a young boy before, and he immediately felt excited.

It was his hobby to collect and to acquire new playthings. That was his get off, his fun times. Ever since he had grown used to his quirk, he binned off the people that were set out to control him and keep his powers to themselves and he made his own way. He hated his past, hated almost every aspect of it. To be controlled was such a disgusting thing, yet to be the one with all the control, there was nothing more delicious.

The couple he had seen at a 'grill your own meat' restaurant a few weeks back were the perfect example. Upon spotting the women's quirk of absorbing heat and re distributing it, he couldn't help himself. He wanted to play. He wanted to take that and use it, he wanted to know what it felt like, he wanted to play so bad.

Yet it was never the same. All those years back he had had his favourite toy dangled in front of him, and then taken away. He had missed his shot all those years ago at collecting that fragile yet delicious creature.

The family he was currently in control over did not fill that void. Therefore, to see the fire in the boy's eyes on the TV from UA he couldn't help but want to see what the kid could do. Was he a potential collectable? Was he destined to be part of this doll collection? Would he fill the gap?

The boy made his speech and with every angry word that was made at the crowd, he became more and more enamoured. He could feel his legs bouncing in anticipation. _Now just to see his quirk… show me it… I want to see!_

Yet as he watched the kid wander back into the group of students and come to stand beside a girl, his body froze.

Something in him snapped, like strings and then the mood in the room shifted.

There were two sharp intakes of breath as the couple regained a form of consciousness, the sound as if they had been under water for just that split second too long. The wife couldn't catch her breath though, the glass of water fell from her now trembling hands. She doubled over and began to throw up, water and blood. Her husband whimpered as he tried to push himself out of his armchair to help, but fresh burn wounds to his legs saw him falling over.

Both of them felt their heads split from the trance they had been under, neither able to move too quickly or with good balance. Their minds were muddled, and words couldn't come out of their mouths as if the control they had regained over their bodies was unnatural and foreign.

The young man paid them no attention what's so ever, as he shuffled up from his cross-legged position to his knees before the screen. His thin fingers, with pink nail polish chipped and jagged, touched at the screen over the young girl's face.

"Oh, there you are little doll" His voice broke. He had been waiting for this, waiting for a very long time.

 **BREAK**

It was carnage.

As soon as the start gun sounded, it was a stampeded through the hallway and out to the obstacle course.

Mika had all but sneered and glared her way to a few rows from the front before the race had kicked off, and was now a few steps away from being clear of the elbows and knees knocking and jabbing into her from the sheer number of students all trying to fit through the passage way at once.

It was reminiscent of the crush that had happened when the UA alarms had been tripped by the press all those weeks ago. She could feel the panic rising at being so enclosed, but she could see the way out and she was pushing towards it.

She had completely lost sight of most of her classmates, but she was right behind the cocky half and half bastard. She hadn't meant to be, but in the crush and the rush she had wound up right behind him and she wasn't stupid enough to engage with him just yet. She knew it was best to wait out for the end, because a narrow hallway was not going to be the biggest challenge of the obstacle course, that much she was certain.

The racket and bedlam was all she could take in and she could feel her heart beat kicking up a notch. But she knew that this would happen, and she cantered herself as she pushed forwards, she lowered her head and glared at the light at the end of the passageway. She was not going to let herself get hindered by herself. She was going to make it. She was going to keep her cool and make it to the end and make it there first. A chant started up in her head and she let it drive her and fuel her.

 _Do it for your Brother. Do it for your Friends. Do it to prove the others wrong. Do it for yourself._

She sucked in a deep breath and started pulling in the shadow energy from those around her. In all the commotion there was plenty to soak up and no one had even noticed yet. She kept her breathing steady and her hands flushed towards the floor so she could soak up as much as possible. She knew that she couldn't hold it for long, but it was best to start the process now, in case there was something that snuck up on her.

No sooner had she reached her minimum amount, had she spotted half and half suck in a deep breath before her. Her blacked out eyes immediately flew to his hands. They were crystallising with ice and she felt her eyes widen. _He's going to freeze us… Mika think!_

 _JUMP!_

Without a moment to spare she flushed all the dark energy through into her legs and just as the first sheet spread out behind him, Mika launched herself up into the air. The ice spread out back up the hallway, with students slamming to a halt as their feet were frozen into Todoroki's ice. She could hear them screaming and shouting after him as he zoomed off ahead, not even looking back to see his mess.

Mika had launched herself up quite a distance, but not enough to take over Todoroki, and as she felt her descent begin, she angled her feet as if she was about to land on a surfboard. Upon landing the momentum of her jump had her skidding along, her arms out to keep her balance as she slid.

She was mildly aware of her Brother over the speakers shouting her name, but not was not the time to concentrate on his loud ramblings.

"I AIN'T LETTING YOU GET AHEAD THAT EASY HALF N' HALF!" She could hear Katsuki from right behind her. She turned her head slightly and saw him blasting himself over the heads of the stuck students. A look so mad in his eyes that even she had to swallow nervously.

She had just began to lose momentum and run again when Katsuki overtook her, and as he passed over her, he didn't even give her the time of day. His eyes locked on the icy hot kid in front. Mika huffed as she tried to quicken up to keep up with them both. Running on ice wasn't as hard as she thought it would be, although she was still doing it very carefully. She found the faster she ran the easier it was. Todoroki was way ahead now and he knew it for his ice started to fade out and then Mika was running back on track again.

She took another peak behind her and noticed quite a few of their classmates had made it over the ice sheet and were powering their way after them. Mika was about to smile back at them with pride, but the competitiveness inside her rolled over and she threw her hands out to pull more shadow energy into her.

She had it pumping straight into her legs, the extra boost making her strides more powerful and her legs pump quicker. She was making great time, and Todoroki and Bakugou were getting closer and closer.

 _Do it for your Brother. Do it for your Friends. Do it to prove the others wrong. Do it for yourself._

She could feel the grin of excitement on her face grow wider and wider until a shadow appeared in the distance. The closer and closer she got the more her nerves tried to show up, but she was too pumped now. The side of her that lived for the fight was waking up and pushing her on now.


	24. Chapter 24 - Drive

Chapter 24 – Drive

Mika had never seen a robot so big before. She had heard about them, mainly from Izuku when he once gave her an epic story telling of how he passed his entrance exam, to which Uraraka had been nodding intensely at all the way through. There were what felt like hundreds before them, all towering up ahead like the Great Wall of China.

"Too many, there's no way past!" One girl all but cried as she approached from behind Mika.

"It's the Zero Pointers from the entrance exam…"

Mika was racking her brains for a way through when Momo came to stop decide her, the girl's apprehension was etched so deep on her face that Mika almost worried for her.

"So these are the faux villains they used for everyone else's test?" Todoroki piped up from the front of the small group. Mika looked at him as he eyed the robots. She had almost forgotten that he had got in the same way she had. Neither of them had had to face these robots before.

There was a chance that she could dash between the legs, but that might get tricky if they all start kicking at her. She was bound to be crushed, and she didn't want to jump over them in case she was swatted out of the sky. She couldn't control her flight path once air born, not like Sunshine could with his blasts.

There was a crowd starting to form before the robots as the other students all caught up and began assessing for their own way through.

Mika was just about to go ahead with her dashing between the legs when she saw Todoroki drop to the floor in front of her. She paused and waited to see what he would do.

"Kinda wished they had prepared something a little more threatening…. Especially because dear old dad is watching!"

Mika felt something in her chest tighten at the pure spite in which he spat the reference to his Father. It felt familiar, it felt real.

She watched wide eyed and a little confused as to her reaction as Todoroki slashed his ice hand out into the air before him creating a lightning bolt almost of ice that flashed through the air to coat the robots before him. Freezing their legs and then he was off once more.

She swallowed once again and threw her hands out. The shadows of those that had gathered around them before the robots and the robot's shadows all began to creep up into her palms. Her eyes blacked out and she fell into position. The robots that Todoroki had frozen began to topple over as their frozen legs couldn't break free to catch their weight.

Before the rest of the group had a chance to take their eyes off the retreating back of Icey Hot, Mika dashed around the rubble, her legs carrying her at a speed almost as quick as their class rep. She kept her shadow energy bursting out her feet and through her legs as she dashed between the legs.

All the robots started to move in a chain reaction, legs began slamming in her way, but she was quicker. Her speed was her advantage in this, the robots were good at reacting to her, but once she had already passed them.

She was almost clear, a feeling of complete success washed over and before she even had a chance to stop herself a grin had spread over her face. It was at that exact moment that she felt the wind shift around her, she had time to cast a confused glance to the side before a leg side swiped at her out of nowhere and sent her hurtling towards the chest of another Robot. She curled herself up into a ball mid-air and forced all the shadow energy she had into arms and hands. She knew that she had to brace for impact. There was no way that she could avoid that.

She closed her eyes as she sliced through the wind, her hair flying out behind her before she was slamming into the cold metal of the robot's chest. An explosion of pain erupted from her back, but she knew she could deal with it. She could the rib that had been broken by the big bird creature in the USJ attack twinge and she cursed herself for being so oblivious.

Whilst the Robot was pre-occupied with keeping its balance form the impact, she turned her mind to smashing her hands into the side of the robot to keep from falling to the floor and shoved herself up and over its shoulder. Once up she watched as the robot that kicked her try to swipe at her, but only came into contact with the robot that she was on's head. Her robot fell back, and all Mika had to do was hold on tight as it dropped towards the floor. She made no mistake and jumped just before it hit the ground and sprinted like her life depended on it.

She barely even registered that she was doing it but her hands were soaking up shadow energy in no time and she knew that she was going to have to play the next section a lot smarter. She couldn't afford more of that, especially if she was going to get herself hurt and have to stabilise herself along the way. It was also something she had hoped to keep to herself, and not to flash that aspect of her quirk to every tom, dick and harry that was watching the festival on their TV.

 **BREAK**

Mika had managed to get used to the ache by the time she made it to the next section. The pain that she had experienced in her back was now just something annoying to ignore. She immediately came to a stop before the track beneath her feet plunged away. She couldn't believe that something so massive had been created, especially because she was certain that this area had been a more than pleasant park for the students before today.

Pillars of rock stood out across a manmade canyon before her. There were what looked like rope looping between them. Her eyes scanned them ropes, trying to spot the quickest and safest route. Her eyes were darting as she heard the first sounds of the others approaching from behind. She could hear their shouting and jeering at each other.

Before she could even take a breath, she launched herself out at the first rope and hauled herself along it using as little as the shadow energy as she could. There was a route that she thought she might take that would lead to a few jumps she could make, without having to just climb along the ropes the whole way.

 _Jumping some of these gaps is going to get me to the other side a whole lot quicker than shimmying along these ropes… you've so got this… easy!_

She made it to the first pillar and assessed the jump. It wasn't too far, but she knew that she needed to be careful. It looked like she could just about make it without the shadow energy, but she let one hand hold out for a little but just to make sure she made it. Then she was off.

She managed to make it across the canyon without anyone overtaking her, but she knew some were now right on her heels and that was not good enough. She was sprinting once again, dark energy constantly flowing in and through to her legs as she desperately tried to make the gap between herself and the rest of the classes larger. She was anxious now; she knew that it had to be coming to an end again soon because there wasn't much left of the stadium that they hadn't been round now.

 _Do it for your Brother. Do it for your Friends. Do it to prove the others wrong. Do it for yourself._

There was a massive part of her that needed to do well for all those people, but the most important person was herself. All her life she had been forced to do things she didn't want to do, fight and train and that was it. Her life was miserable for the longest time had not hope that her life would ever mean anything other than pain and suffering.

Her Brother saving her, and her second chance at life was something that she would never ever take for granted.

With that settling in her mind there was nothing but the raw determination. She was going to push herself so far beyond herself to win and prove to everyone that she was worth it, she was strong, she was good, she was a Hero.


	25. Chapter 25 - Team Time

Hello, I just wanted to let you know that I have tweaked all my chapters - tidied up grammatical errors and have also made a few changes to her back story / quirk. Those of you that are reading this on 1st March 2020 will have read my updated chapters... those of you that have not, here are the changes bullet pointed below:

\- Mika's 'healing' aspect of her quirk... isn't quite the quick recovery girl healing fix I had originally written. I have changed it to be a type of stabilisation that the shadow energy gives her. For instance, she can hold cuts/ slashes and wounds shut / hold off illness but once she releases her shadow energy those will reopen/spread. Therefore she will need healing like the rest do. (The reason behind this is because with what I had planned she was way to overpowered and that is just boring to write)

\- Mika's past changes revolve around her Father and her past home situation, but the change is subtle and I think explaining now will ruin the story.

Thanks for your patience... enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 25 – Team Time

A mine field.

 _Oh shit…_

Mika stood shifting from foot to foot as she assessed the obstacle before her. There, way ahead, she could see Bakugo and Todoroki grappling each other as they made their way across the field without setting off any of the mines. A few people had caught her up now and she was watching them as they each stepped on a mine and got flung off to the side.

 _It's now or never Mika, get your arse moving!_

Mika set off, her legs still thrumming with the shadow energy that she had been storing within her. Her eyes were trained on the ground before her, only stepping on the lighter patches of the ground. She found once she got moving she could suss out which direction to go just in time for her body to keep up. She knew she was playing a risky game, trying to cut through as quickly as she was, one false move and she would be blown to pieces.

She struggled on though, flinching ever so slightly every time she heard someone else behind her fall victim to the flashy explosions. There was shouting as people panicked. _I bet some of them are pushing each other into the mines… this is rough._

She was just beginning to spot where the mines ended when the ground below her shook, the deafening boom of what must have been hundreds of mines set off behind her. She managed to slow down to a stop, her heart in her mouth as she turned around to see a mushroom cloud rising up. Students were falling over themselves at the sight of it, setting off minor explosions all over the place.

 _What the heck? Who… wait a second…_

As Mika squinted up into the mushroom cloud, she could see something appear. It looked like a piece of metal glinting, and then the closer it came to be soaring over her head, the more she could make out. She couldn't help her mouth drop open as Izuku flew overhead riding what must have been a panel from one of the robots from the start of the race. As he passed over head and off towards where Bakugo and Todoroki were, she shook herself awake and pushed on. Making her legs pump as hard as she could.

She was catching them up, just as Izuku was coming back down to land. She could see that he was going to touch down right between the two, when she saw him shift and bring the metal panel arching over his head. She sprinted on and watched in complete awe as he caught his feet on each of Bakugo and Todoroki's shoulders and slammed the panel between them causing another explosion. Mika was quick to change direction to just skim the edge of the it.

She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Izuku had literally exploded himself into first place and she was living for it. Even though she wanted to be first and get in ahead of everyone else, she couldn't get over how amazing Izuku's ingenuity was.

As she rounded the smoke from the explosion, she ended up steps behind Bakugo and Todoroki. They sprinted after the green haired spitfire right through into the stadium and into the bright lights and cameras.

"The one who made it back to the stadium first is… NONE OTHER THAN IZUKU MIDORIYA!" Shouted Present Mic over all the speakers in the stadium. The crowd went absolutely wild and Mika could hear it all as she burst into the stadium taking fourth place.

Mika came to a stop and let out the small essence of shadow energy out with a puff of smoky breath before she started to stretch her body out to make sure she didn't seize up. She winced as she stretched her back out, her rib pulling uncomfortably. _Fourth is not too bad at all Mika, out of all the people that were racing… nice job._

' _Is that all you have got?'_

Her Fathers voice flashed through her mind and she shook her head. This was not the time; she would only get distracted from what was to come if she let herself get dragged down by the memory of that man.

She instead, made her way over to where Eijiro and Denki were catching their breath.

"Nice one guys!" She grinned whilst still breathing heavily.

"Where did you come Mika-chan?" Denki asked between wheezes. His hands were resting on his knees as he leaned on them.

"I came fourth" She nodded.

"Oh nice one, so manly Mika-chan" Eijiro piped up, throwing her an energetic thumbs up.

"Did you see Izuku-kun?" She asked. "It was insane, he literally blew himself up into first place!"

"Ehhh?" They both gasped at once.

"That was what that huge explosion was?" Eijiro gushed, looking to Izuku with stars in his eyes.

"Yeah, mad right?" She snorted.

She settled to watching then. More and more students filtered their way into the stadium, some looking absolutely exhausted and others looking distraught that they had been so far behind the rest of them. She could understand of course, she knew that everyone had been working so hard to get themselves ready for the sports festival and she knew how incredibly important it was to shine in front of the many camera's dotted about the stadium. _That's just how it is though, some of us are stronger than others… and the world continues to go around and around._

"NOW, on to the second event! I already know what it is, of course…" Midnight boasted as she shifted her weight onto her left hip, eyes twinkling. "… dying in suspense? Next up is…"

The crowd hushed into complete silence as Midnight spun around to point at the screen behind her. All the students lurched forwards as the words appeared to get a view of what they were up against next.

CAVALRY BATTLE!

"Oh jeez" Mika sighed.

The crowd had gone wild and the shouts and hollers were deafening. The students around her were all just as confused as she was.

 _So… are we teaming up? How do we create teams? What are the rules?_

"Participants will, on their own, form teams of two to four members each and get into a horse-and-rider formation… the rules are fundamentally the same as those of an ordinary cavalry battle – snag your opponent's headbands while guarding your own, but with one exception…"

Mika began to look around her, eyeing up all the options she had for building a team to win. She knew that it would have to be a team of many quirks to get a good coverage of skills. She kept looking even when her eyes were catching others as they two were trying to suss out who they wanted to join forces with. Her eyes caught with Bakugo for a second and she could literally see the cogs turning in his brain as if he definitely already had a plan. _I need to play nice now, I need to be apart of a team… I can't get through on my own... damn it._

"Each of you has been assigned a point value based on your ranking in the last event, your individual point values start at 5… so the student who took 42nd place is worth five points… making our first place participant worth… TEN MILLION POINTS!"

 _Oh shit… Izuku-kun you are so screwed!_

Mika settled in her mind then that teaming up with Izuku would not be the best idea if she wanted to make it the easiest win for her to get through to the last round. Mika was not the only one to swivel her head around to look at Midoriya as the news broke. Everyone was sizing him up as he stood there with the palest face and wide 'doe in head light' eyes.

Midnight finished explaining all the rules and then told everyone they had fifteen minutes to sort out their teams and get ready to fight. Mika took a beat to steel herself for what came next. She let her head tip back and her eyes peer up at the sky. She let her lungs fill up with air before she let her head drop back down and she assessed what to do first.

"Mika-chan?" She heard Eijiro behind her and she peered over her shoulder at him.

"Hey Eijiro-kun, want to team up together?" She asked, just as he went to ask the same thing.

"Hell yeah!" He fist pumped. "That was what I was coming to ask you too!"

"Perfect, who else do you want?"

Mika mentally applauded herself. Her first teammate, and she hadn't even needed to try and convince him. Kirishima was the best person to be in a team with, he could go up front and be basically the shield for the rest of them from explosions or anything that came flying their way. _Perfect, now who…_

"I have an idea… come with me Mika-chan" Eijiro started bouncing on this feet as he grabbed Mika by the hand and dragged her through the crowd of students. He weaved their way through the crowd till they approached Bakugo, who in turn was surrounded by Class 1-A students trying to get him to join their team.

"He won't want to team up with me, Eijiro-kun!" Mika sighed.

"Don't worry, I have a great pitch!" He reassured her with a wink over his shoulder.

"HEY BAKUGO!" He called out, the hot-headed blond looking over to them. "That Todoroki's already wrangled up a team for himself… so team up with us, Bakugo!"

"Ah, weird hair and curly" Bakugo merely responded.

"We have names you idiot!" Mika snorted as she crossed her arms. Eijiro elbowed her to get her to shut up before she ruined their shot at adding him to their team.

"I know you wanna be a rider, right?" He picked up, looking so enthusiastic, Mika couldn't help but grin at him. "So, your front horse had better be someone who can take all those explosions, yeah? Who might that be…"

"Someone not afraid to die!" Mika added, pointing to Kirishima with a deadpan face.

"No, it's me… and we all now how strong and quick Mika-chan can be, she is the perfect person to have protecting on the side!"

Mika pretended to flex her muscles at Bakugo, still with a completely strait-laced face, making Eijiro facepalm a little. He shoved her to make her stop and pulled her closer over to Bakugo. Mika snorted, knowing that Bakugo was going to agree by the look in his eyes, they just needed to deliver one final push and she knew what would clinch the deal.

"This horse won't break!" Kirishima added, with a fierce look in his eyes.

"You want to take Izuku-kun down right?" Mika added, with a determined look in her eye.

Both Mika and Eijiro watched as Bakugo's face lit up and a deep sneer appeared.

They were in.


	26. Chapter 26 - Air Born

Chapter 26 – Air Born

They had completed their team pretty quickly from there on out. Once Bakugo had the fire of potential victory over Midoriya in his sights, he had spun around and looked at everyone until his eyes landed on Sero from their class. He pointed right at him and announced that he wanted the 'Sticky tape kid' on his team.

Sero had not been too enamoured with his name but had joined none the less.

They were now stood in their starting positions, Mika on the left, Sero on the right and Kirishima at the front. She could see all the other teams now, and a quick glance up to the leader board showed who had the highest amount of points, they currently were in second because they had Bakugo and Mika who were in the top five. Todoroki's team were second, with Izuku's team in the lead. Everyone was going to be going for him, and she knew that they would be no different. They were going to be moving at the behest of the gremlin sat in the rider's position, and that gremlin was only glaring at Izuku.

"Ne, Sero-kun?" Mika leaned back and looked to her classmate from behind Bakugo.

"Yeah?" He smiled back to her.

"You will probably need to be on the lookout for sunshine… he's a wild card" She quietly reasoned with him, and she watched as he frowned not quite getting her. She sighed. "If he tries to launch his arse off after someone, you will have to tape him and pull him back before he touches the floor, otherwise we will be disqualified"

"Oh, I got you… I'm on it!" He nodded to her with a fresh new determination in his eyes.

She looked back towards the front and noticed then that Bakugo was looking down at her. She met his sharp red eyes and merely shrugged at him. _Dude, you know that I was right to warn him… you're a hot head…_

"Heard that Curly…" Bakugo sneered down to her.

"Just covering your arse, Sunshine… you're welcome" She smiled sarcastically up at him.

"Formed your teams? Made your plans? TOO BAD IF YOU HAVEN'T!" Came Midnight's shout across them all. The crowd roared all around then, realising that it was about to go down. Mika could feel all the tension around her swell up as if it was a flood. The way her classmates were eyeing each other up was intense for sure. "Here we go… the countdown to this brutal battle royal!" She yelled.

"Here we go team!" Kirishima called out from the front.

"THREE… TWO…"

Mika reached out then and began sucking up their shadow, immediately storing it up in her arms and her legs to make sure that she was strong enough to rush around holding Bakugo up and also to drive them all at a faster pace than everyone else. She was so ready for this; she could feel the shadow energy buzzing inside her limbs as they all but started to vibrate with the energy. Ready to be expelled in the imminent fight.

"So ready for this…" She breathed lowly.

"ONE!"

They literally spared no time, and they weren't the only ones, in making a bee line straight for Midoriya's team. Every single team was heading straight for them, all shouting and screaming to each other, trying to coordinate their movements to make sure they were moving as quickly as they could. Some of the teams were pulling ahead and that was when Bakugo called them to a stop.

"Woah woah… why are we stopping?" Sero called up to him, confusion written across his face.

"Too many teams in one space, someone could take our headband whilst we are fighting…" Bakugo stated matter of factly, his voice clipped as if he didn't have enough time to explain, his eyes were intense and darted all around him and the space before them where the first team was now engaging with Midoriya's.

Mika watched as a team from Class 1-B made their way towards Izuku, the floor before them and under Ochaco and someone else Mika didn't recognise, went soft and she could see them sinking into it. It was a brilliant quirk for this battle, completely grounding your opposition and leaving them without a way of escape. That was if the team that was stuck in there didn't also include someone who could make things weightless and float, as well as what looked like support items that Mika watched explode into a jet like stream that propelled them high up over the heads of everyone else.

"Are you keeping a look out Mika-chan?" She heard Eijiro call from the front, and she had to check herself because she was not keeping a good enough look out at all.

She cast her eyes out to the left where she was stationed and noticed there were a few of the Class 1-B teams trying to move around each other, but there was no danger head their way at the moment.

"All clear over this side…"

"Sero?" Eijiro called afterwards.

"All good here too!" He replied quicker than Mika had.

"Now, WE GO NOW!" Bakugo barked out of nowhere, and they launched forwards. Mika pounded her feet into the ground pushing them forwards faster than they had all expected. She could hear Eijiro and Sero gasping as they were propelled forwards. It was intense, but an edge the needed. All around them Mika could hear fighting and shouting, and on top of all of that her Brother was hollering through the stadium with his quirk, and the crowd was just one big cacophony of cheers and boo's.

They zoomed forwards and Mika was quick to assess all the teams and how close they were to being an issue as they passed them. They had gotten away with not gaining much attention from anyone from the left in their sprint, but then she spotted them. A battle horse was approaching from behind them slightly to her side and she was immediately turning back over her shoulder as they went to assess what the danger was.

There was an all-girl team rushing their way towards them, the rider with the biggest hands she had ever seen, big enough to just completely swat them out the way.

"Guys, incoming to the back left!" She shouted, and Bakugo was immediately turning over his shoulder with his arm outstretched to blast them into the next life.

The group caught up to them and the rider immediately used her giant hands to knock at Mika, to tip them over, but Mika was prepared, and all her energy had been shifted through her body to her right leg. As the crazy huge hand came swiping through the air towards her, she pivoted off of her left leg and lifted her right leg and slammed it down with all her might. She couldn't help the yell as she crashed her foot down on the giant hand causing the girl to call out in anger and shock.

"RIEKO!" The giant handed girl screamed as she bought her hand up to her chest, now a normal size.

The girl on the front of their team horse started raising her hands up towards Mika. Mika had no idea what this girls quirk was, hell, she didn't know what any of their quirks were. She had not paid any attention during the race, and now she really wished she had.

She was about to suck up some more of their team's shadow for energy when she felt her feet lift off the ground.

"WOAH, Sunshine!" She yelled out as she was all of a sudden yanked away from them. She didn't let go though, her hands grasping Sero's shirt and Eijiro's shoulder. Each of the boys groaning and they tried not to be pulled with her.

Bakugo twisted fully onto Eijiro's shoulder raised his hands right at the front of their battle horse.

"DIE!" he screamed before letting off a powerful explosion. Breaking whatever was happening to Mika and as soon as she had been lifted up in the air and pulled away from her battle horse, was she dropped down towards the floor. She was going to fall flat on her face at the rate she was falling, and she tried her best not to let go of her grip otherwise they would be disqualified, and she was not about to let that happen. Just when she thought she would hit the floor, Sero managed to grab the hem of her shirt and pull her up onto her feet.

"LET'S GO!" Kirishima yelled back to them as he took off again, Mika immediately finding her feet and sprinting them away from the danger as the other battle horse brushed themselves off from the explosion.

 _Jeez, Mika pull yourself together… you almost made you whole team fail!_

"I'm sorry guys!" She called out to her team as they sprinted on ahead towards where Izuku' battle horse had just taken off again.

"Shut up and run Curly!" Bakugo barked back down at her and she nodded, shaking herself back into the moment.

With a burst of white light, sizzling heat and a deafening boom, Bakugo took off leaving them behind to just grind to a halt, watching as their rider propelled himself up into the air after the air born number one team. Mika felt her anger split across her face, even though she knew that he might try it, she didn't realise how pissed off she was going to get that he would just put their team in that much jeopardy. If he failed and hit the ground like she almost did then they were all excluded from the next part of the sports festival, the bit that really counts. _At least when I almost got us disqualified it was because of some unknown quirk and not my hot hotheadedness!_

"Fuck!" Mika bit out as she turned to Sero with wide eyes.

"I'm on it!" He shouted, raising his elbow up into the air in the direction of their wayward sky born rider.

They waited to see if he made a connection with Izuku, and once he had been blocked by Tokoyami's dark shadow, they could see him losing his momentum and that was when the three of them lurched into action. Sero was quick then to shoot his tape out and latch onto Bakugo's shoulder, yanking him back down onto their battle horse.

All the time trying with their heads up in the air looking for Bakugo and trying to catch him meant that neither Mika nor Sero noticed when another battle horse from Class 1-A came sneaking up right behind them. As soon as Bakugo was back on Mika and Sero's shoulders a gust of wind flashed past behind them as an obnoxious blond looking kid yanked the headband straight from Bakugo's head.

"He got us!" Mika fumed, trying to pull Sero and Kirishima back round so that they could face their opponents.

"GIVE THAT BACK OR I'LL KILL YOU!" Bakugo basically exploded into full on gremlin mode.

"When midnight announced the first event, it didn't take a genius to realise they wouldn't be thinning our numbers _that_ much in a preliminary… It wasn't much of a stretch to imagine they be letting a good number of us advance to the next event…"

"Did we ask for this kids life story?" Mika rolled her burning with hatred eyes at them. Yet the blond carried on, undeterred.

"It was the perfect chance to hang back and observe our soon to be rival quirks and tendencies… "

"Was your whole class in on it?" Kirishima gasped.

"Not _everyone_ , but that wouldn't have been a bad idea… instead of aiming for some fleeting first place, like a horse going for a dangling carrot"

Mika could basically feel the anger and murderous intent emanating from Bakugo and to be honest, she was feeling just as pissed. This kid had just slinked out of nowhere, gaslighting them and turning his back like he was bored of them. Mika felt something in her snap, and she became furious. _We need that back or we won't stand a chance, time to kick some bitches…_

"Ah, but you are already famous, aren't you?" the kid carried on over his shoulder. "The victim of that sludge incident! I'll have to ask you sometime… how does it feel to get attached by villains on an annual basis?"

"Oh shit, you guys are such dead meat!" Mika smirked, her eyes flashing contempt at them.

As if to prove her point, a dark and almost black like the night aura started to permeate from Bakugo, inching closer and closer towards the blond git who had stolen their headband. Bakugo was furious, his chest heaving and his eyes practically on fire as he scowled over at them.

"Kirishima… plans changed!" Bakugo began, his voice a low growl. "Before we go for Deku… I've gotta murder every last one of them!"


End file.
